What is to blame for this gannet’s unusual stillness? – The Irish Times

This gannet was sitting on a harbour wall in Belmullet for a number of hours and appeared unable to fly. It didn’t look injured. S Ó hArdín, Dublin

It could not have regarded injured, however the truth that it sat there not flying away when approached is indicative of it being ailing – most definitely with chicken flu. This illness was rampant amongst gannets final yr and breeding colonies have been significantly arduous hit because the virus unfold among the many intently nesting birds. It doesn’t appear possible that this one will make it to the closest breeding web site on Clare Island farther south.

In Wexford the furze and the heather bloom collectively on the hills and mountains in September. In 1996 the hills have been ablaze with the county colors, as we proudly introduced residence the Liam McCarthy Cup. So this yr why have been the Mayo hills of Corraun and Achill sporting the Wexford colors on the finish of March? J Maher, Wexford

The furze in bloom in the meanwhile in Mayo and plenty of different locations is Ulex europaeus. This can be a totally different species to Ulex galii, which is most frequent within the east and south and blooms from July till the top of September. The spring heather in flower on the similar time is the Lusitanian species Erica erigena: the Irish heath. This happens solely in western Mayo and Connemara in addition to Spain and Portugal. There isn’t a hurling subplot.

This little chicken has begun visiting the identical department within the backyard every day. He does a dance and faucets on the window. He might do that for hours. What’s he doing and will he hurt his beak? Zara Lee, Co Dublin

This can be a male blue tit and he’s holding territory at the moment of yr. He sees his reflection within the mirror and thinks it’s a rival male. This behaviour is meant to drive the interloper out of his territory. He’s on a hiding to nothing until you hold one thing on the window, which stops him seeing his reflection and so convinces him that he has been victorious.

Michael Keane of Blacksod Sea Safari despatched on this image of a basking shark. He says that the primary basking shark off the coast of Achill was seen on the finish of March, which could be very early. Basking sharks arrive in our waters in summer time following the concentrations of plankton blooms on which they feed. They typically arrive on the finish of April/early Might and keep round all summer time. It’s one other indication of how heat our ocean has grow to be if the plankton can bloom right here in adequate quantity to draw the basking sharks up from their winter quarters across the Canaries and the Azores so early within the yr.

There was a typical dolphin and a big bull gray seal swimming and splashing very shut collectively close to to the RNLI station in Skerries one afternoon in the direction of the top of March. At instances it regarded as if the seal was holding on to the dolphin, their two heads protruding of the water shut collectively. The seal repeatedly gave the impression to be on prime of the dolphin, however we by no means noticed the seal chew it, and no contemporary wounds or accidents have been seen on the dolphin. I used to be speaking to Padraig Whooley of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, and it appears there are few or no such data. After two hours, the animals moved off out into deeper uneven water, the place they might now not be seen. Unusual, unexplained behaviour. The image was taken by Johnny Woodlock. Ciaran O’Keeffe, Skerries, Co Dublin

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