On weeks like this I have the best job. Out
and about by the water’s edge, the calm gentle meandering river; the quite buzz
of insects and bees, the happy summer sound of skylark in song, the soft piping
of Redshank on guard - just keeping watch.
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| On our way to work on Inishee © K. Finney |
On Inishee, 30 of the 34-37 pairs of
Redshank have chicks, some now a few weeks old. More often than not, the male
is left to finish rearing the chicks alone and there are now 15 single fathers
on the island. The Lapwing have nearly all hatched and one pair have moved
their chicks across the river to an adjacent field, also under management. They
do this every year, hopefully their chicks will eventually breed in this field.
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| Pumping water on Inishee © K. Finney |
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| Pumping water on Inishee © K. Finney |
The hot dry spell means that we have
begun pumping water into the drains, ensuring the chicks have enough wet patches to feed around.
Both Alan and Anita managed to fit a quick site visit into their busy schedule. Both were suitably impressed that all the hard work has paid off.
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| Alan Lauder CEO on Inishee this week © K. Finney |
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| Anita Donaghy, Project Manager on Inisee this week © K. Finney |
The fine weather has also allowed more accurate
surveys of the rest of our wader sites and we are turning up more pairs, some
expanding out into new areas, also under management. The farmers will be so
pleased, all their hard work to create suitable breeding habitat is paying off.
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