FAIR GAME
The dog bouncing around excitedly under the tree where I hang nut feeders for the birds and a great clapping of wings alerted me to the presence of a new unlikely visitor to the garden, a hen pheasant. The bird flew up into the neighbour’s conifers where it perched in ungainly fashion. I had seen a pheasant on Dalkey hill in mid winter but apart from a few feathers on the road I had not seen a pheasant around the hill in years. I had heard that someone used to rear them in Dalkey Quarry years ago and they grew the Leycestaria bushes which are now very common around the hill. More commonly known as the pheasant bush since their deep blue berries were a great food source for these birds and a very popular food choice for Bullfinches and Blackcaps. The poor old pheasant looked very out of place perched on a branch and these birds always
seem to have that permanently alarmed expression. Perhaps being bred to be shot might account for their permanent nervous expression. It continued to come around for the next few days picking up the spilled seed under the feeders.

Out of Africa
Many of our summer migrant birds should have arrived by now and many will already have nests built and be sitting on eggs. One of the last birds to arrive, usually in the early days of May, is the Swift and this is the bird I always associate with summer, screeching overhead on warm evenings sometimes in small weaving flocks. They are totally dependent on insects which they catch in the air which is probably why they have such a short breeding season, from May to early August, only being here when the air is warmest and abundant with small flying and floating creatures. Surprisingly a major source of food for them is spiders which ‘balloon’ through the air after launching themselves into the air to move to a new territory. Swifts only land to build nests and lay and hatch eggs in high buildings. They spend nearly all their lives in the air even sleeping and mating on the wing. They build their nests with material they catch in the air like wind borne seeds and they used use elm seeds plucked from the sky to build their nests with until these trees were struck down with the Dutch Elm disease in the 70’s.as nest material. Since they only land on high perches they have evolved so that their feet are set very far back on their bodies and they can’t take off again if they get forced on to the ground.

European Swifts winter in Zaire, Tanzania or Zimbabwe. Like the Swallows, House Martins, Cuckoos and many other birds which arrive her in summer it’s fantastic to think they might have been flying over prides of lions and herds of zebras, giraffes and wildebeest a few months ago as well as traveling over the vast Sahara desert. It’s estimated that Swallows can get here from Africa in five weeks.

Queen of the May
The Hawthorn bush will have just begun to flower at the beginning of this month. It is traditionally associated with the beginning of May and indeed is known as the ‘May blossom’. Unlike the Blackthorn which begins to flower in March with the white flowers contrasting against the bare black branches, the Hawthorn gets its leaves first in March with the flowers following in May. The Hawthorn figures large in old myths and traditions, single bushes in fields having along association in Ireland with Fairies and it was always considered unlucky to cut down these trees. It is also considered unlucky for sprigs of Hawthorn be taken indoors probably because of the strong smell. The Hawthorn is pollinated by insects which are attracted by a chemical in the plant which is also found in decomposing flesh. It used be a common practice (up to quite recently) to eat Hawthorn leaves in cheese sandwiches, accounting for another traditional name for it the ‘Bread and Cheese Tree’.
Apparently they are very tasty but don’t take my word for it. They are a very useful plant in the wild being very attractive to up to 20 different species of insects when in flower. In Autumn the berries are a very good food source for birds and dense bushes are also very good for nesting and roosting.