Extinct in Ireland, 20th September, the Woodlark
From Pádraic Fogarty‘s Whittled Away: Woodlark Formerly common along the Eastern counties, it had disappeared as a breeding bird by the start of the twentieth century. Gerald Manley Hopkins attempted…
Category: birds
Extinct in Ireland, September 19th, Spotted crake
From Pádraic Fogarty’s Whittled Away: Spotted crake Probably common up to the mid-nineteenth century, there was a record of them breeding on the once extensive marshes around Dundalk, Co. Louth,…
Extinct in Ireland, September 18th – the Osprey
From Pádraic Fogarty’s Whittled Away: Osprey Breeding in inland lakes including Lough Key in Roscommon in 1779 but no records thereafter, save for the odd vagrant. Given its relatively abundant…
“The Forgotten Beasts in Medieval Britain: a study of extinct fauna in medieval sources” Ph.D thesis by Lee Raye
Over the course of my September posts on extinct species in Ireland, the importance of archaeology and literary scholarship in determining which species have been extant in Ireland is striking.…
The gannet photos of Richard Shucksmith
As always, the Bird Photographer of the Year competition has produced a crop of stunning images. The most striking of which for me was one of a familiar bird, the…
Extinct in Ireland, September 10th, the Great Auk
For the first time in this September’s series on species extinct in Ireland, here is a species extinct not only in Ireland (or Irish waters) but the world. Again, from Whittled…
Migrating birds and the September 11th “Tribute in Light” Memorial
In the summer of 1999 I visited the World Trade Center, going up the elevator to Windows on The World. I often wondered if the jovial elevator operator was on…
A wonderful place for a family day out – WWT Castle Espie, Co. Down
Between Comber and Newtownards in County Down lies WWT (Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) reserve Castle Espie. This is a wonderful site, and I would say the most impressive family attraction…
Séamus Sweeney 