WHEN Dúlra’s two girls were young, he decided to take them to one of Belfast’s most famous landmarks, one that they would hopefully never forget – the summit of Cave Hill. They probably can’t remember it now – but Dúlra will never forget it!
Cave Hill oozes history, from the old caves that used to hold prisoners to the spot, chosen from the whole of Ireland, where the United Irishmen made their vow to get Irish independence or die trying.
We set off full of promise and craic and stories, but it slowly deteriorated, if not for the girls, certainly for Dúlra.
He’d never gone to the summit before so he took the most direct and obvious route – right up the scree slope to the left of the caves. It looked simple enough, but halfway up Dúlra realised he’d made a mistake. One slip and you’d hurtle all the way to the bottom at breakneck speed. It was already too treacherous to turn back, and so Dúlra tightened his grip on those two tiny hands and continued upwards. He was too terrified to let them go even for a second. We made it – just about – but Dúlra never repeated the exercise. His heart couldn’t take it!
It was only recently that he learned of a much easier way of getting to the summit. Those people you can see every day silhouetted on Napoleon’s Nose don’t risk their lives – or their children’s lives – getting there. Most of them just stroll to McArt’s Fort on the summit – yes, stroll – because they start off their journey at the car park behind the mountain on the Hightown Road!
Some of them also take the more arduous route from the castle, following the path to the right of the caves. But this week Dúlra discovered the cheat’s way to the top.
From the Hightown Road car park it’s just a stroll along a wide, stoney path – at one stage it’s steep, but in 15 minutes you’ll be on the bridge of Napoleon’s Nose admiring that famous and stunning vista.
The countryside along both sides of this path is reserved for nature. It’s called Ballyaghagan Nature Reserve after the townland here, Baile Uí hEochagáin, or Eochagán’s Home. That probably refers to the owner of the ‘cashel’ here, an old stone ring-fort that was built 1,000 years ago and was in use for centuries.
Ballyaghagan is a brilliant set of meadows. You can enter it from the path at any stage by opening one of the big gates. The only warning is to be wary of cattle, but there were none on Sunday.
The grass here is high and thick and packed with wildflowers. At one stage a sparrowhawk darted past – there will be no lack of food for this raptor with so many naive young birds hopping out of the nest for the first time. One small brown bird among the thick briars and meadowsweet caught Dúlra’s attention, and so he planted himself among the vegetation and watched.
Patience is everything when it comes to birdwatching, you need to stay still as long as possible and, as far as the birds are concerned, you’ll soon become just another part of the natural world. Which, of course, is exactly what we are. It took a while for the wee bird to show itself, but it was worth the wait.
Dúlra focused the bins and saw the telltale white patch under its beak. This was a whitethroat, gilphíb in Irish.
SUCCESS: Dúlra's patience was rewarded by the arrival of a whitethroat
These are much rarer warblers than willow warblers or chiffchaffs, and boy can they sing. Today, however, with chicks to protect from flyby sparrowhawks, was not the time for singing. They need thick undergrowth to nest in and plenty of insects, and Ballynaghagan offers an abundance of both.
One by one other chicks appeared, five in total. And then a very busy parent plucking insects from the grass and passing it to them. Dúlra’s thoughts flooded back to the time he had his own brood on Cave Hill. The care and devotion of a parent is the same no matter the species.
Maybe it’s time to take the girls back to Cavehill, but this time we can all stroll carefree to the famous summit along the Ballyaghagan path.
• If you’ve seen or photographed anything interesting, or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.
