Sunday 31 January 2016

Heather – One Year On


 

 
Because of the direct and indirect impacts humans have on nature (for better and for worse), because of how we would prefer humans interacted with nature, or because of the experiences and memories that we gain from nature, we often tend to consider nature from ‘our perspective’. It is seldom that we look at nature and that our contemplation of what we see doesn’t fall under one of the aforementioned categories; 1. “I’m sad at the loss of habitat” or “I’m delighted to see the maintenance of habitat”, 2. “I wish people would have more consideration for habitats and species” or 3. “I really enjoyed watching all those starlings over the reedbed”.
Those who love nature will automatically be drawn into the situation from a personal perspective – perhaps it is human nature and in all ways, that is a good thing. But perhaps a bit more, we should go beyond what “I” see, what “I” wish or what “I” got out of being with nature. How often do we think about what nature itself sees, wishes or experiences?
So, out of respect to nature, this blog entry will not recount what Heather, the satellite tracked Hen Harrier gave to “us” in terms of joy following her progress or information in terms of her travels, habitat use, new roosts and much more, nor will it go into the obvious devastation that was felt at the time or her persecution (which is still felt today) or public outcry and support for Hen Harriers that followed. Instead, it will focus on what Heather would have seen, experienced and wished.


 
Heather was born and reared in the Summer of 2013, with her four siblings in a heather covered nest, nestled on the slope of a ravine, with a young river flowing below. Her mother would shelter and protect the young, very closely in the first couple of weeks until they grew their feathers and became capable of self thermo-regulating and feeding themselves on the food that their mother and father would bring. Heather’s father was a particularly good provider and did the majority of the provisioning for the five young, as well as for Heather’s mother in the early weeks of the summer.
One day, while both of Heather’s parents were away, the peace of nest was interrupted by two men who walked in and took Heather and her sister (Sally) from the nest and fitted them both with satellite tags before putting them back into the nest immediately afterwards. Heather’s parents returned to the nest none the wiser, but they and the young birds, must surely have been wondering what that small device on their backs were.
When the time came, Heather and her siblings began to fly. For the first month, the family unit stayed around the general nest area, making great use of the heather moorland so that the young could rise and attempt food passes from their parents (with occasional fumbles forgiven by the fact they could re-find any dropped food on the ground). Heather was now beginning to see the wider world, beyond the heather covered nest where up until then all she knew was the sky and her family. She could see for miles and miles from the top of the mountain where she was reared. She could even see the Atlantic Ocean. Heather did what was natural, and she flew. She began to explore, and in a big way. She travelled in a north-easterly direction through Munster, towards Kildare, Wicklow and Dublin. Dublin was obviously a world away from the little ravine, heather moorland and mountain streams where she had been reared – she would have seen the City, in fact flown over it. She turned for more natural habitat and called the heather moorland of the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains home for a number of weeks. After some time, the natural desire for the young harrier to travel saw her head north, to Meath. There one morning, she rose from her roost and standing in the field was a man with a pair of binoculars looking at her. Onwards, north to Louth and Armagh. Heather roosted on the shore of Lough Neagh, the biggest lake in Ireland. She did not delay there however, and made the amazing non-stop journey in a reverse southerly direction, from Lough Neagh to South Cork. Hundreds of kilometres later, she arrived by the cliffs and roosted on some coastal heath, surrounded by tillage farmland where she could find plentiful food and a safe place to rest. It is possible that she found this patch of land, hundreds of kilometres from where she had been, by following an adult female Hen Harrier who had coloured tags on her back. Heather called this home for a number of months, cruising around the tillage fields by day and roosting by night to the sound of Chough, Gulls and crashing waves. From these older birds, Heather would have learned of good hunting places and safe places to spend each night. Again, there was every so often a man watching Heather with binoculars.
 
A new year came. 2014 saw Heather visit the Nagle Mountains and then West Waterford. Come breeding time, she was in the Ballyhouras and hung around with an established pair. She did not breed that summer, but instead travelled through various counties to make it to Mayo. Heather's roost sites in and around Ballycroy National Park and Castlebar provided some super habitat in terms of heather, rough grassland, hedgerows and scrub. It was a beautiful summer and Heather's surrounds provided ample resources. Every so often, Heather would have seen a man with a pair of binoculars.
 
With the summer finished and the days shortening, Heather decided to retrace her steps and visit the exact same sites in Cork as she had spent the previous winter. However, after some time, she made the bold move back to her native Kingdom - this time South Kerry. There, she would have every so often seen a man with a pair of binoculars watch her as she and other harriers settled into roost each evening to see out the night in what they would have seen as a safe haven. She overlooked the spectacular Skelligs and even roosted on an offshore island for some time. One day, she decided to take a short break from South Kerry and returned home to the exact spot where she was reared. Back to the heather clad hills and that mountain ravine. Even after all her journeys, she knew where home was at all times.
 
However, her return home was short and Heather soon travelled back to South Kerry again, a return to the hills for an attempt at finding a mate, would have to wait a short while until spring of 2015 arrived. One evening, Heather returned back to her roost, back to her safe haven and the other harriers she had come to recognize on a daily basis. There was a man watching, but this time it was not a man with binoculars and good intentions, it was a man with a gun. Whether he could be called a man is debatable however, as the coward pointed the barrel at the innocent harrier and pulled the trigger. Ended. Life Ended. All that Heather had seen, experienced and wished for was ended. The heather clad hills and the mountain ravine, the Dublin Mountains, the shores of Lough Neagh, the cliffs of South Cork the bogs of Mayo and all lands in between and further away, could no longer be visited by Heather and her presence could no longer add to the landscape or add depth to the scene.
 
The little device that those two men fitted to Heather and he sister Sally allowed Heather to be found, to allow her story when alive and dead to be known. So ultimately perhaps, after learning considering what Heather would have seen in her life (and you are urged to look back through this blog on Heather and Sally's full story as well as much more), we need to shine the light back on ourselves and again revert to what we wish to see, experience and influence. Habitat continues to be destroyed, for Hen Harriers and for all the native wildlife species that they are an indicator of. Human attitudes continue to differ – with more people growing indifferent to the plight of nature in Ireland, and at the same time more people growing to care for the plight of nature in Ireland. So if there is anything you can do to help more people care about wildlife in Ireland to move the trend in the right direction, then do it. Engage people with the outdoors. Fully educate yourself as to what is good and what is bad in terms of landscape and habitat change and consider what the custodians of the landscape need to continue maintaining habitats, rather than being pushed down a road of intensification or abandonment. Make that difference! But every so often, at the back of it all, have a think as to what the wildlife we so dearly love is experiencing.
 
 

3 comments:

  1. Affordable Loan Offer ( PergoCF@qualityservice.com )
    Do You Need A Business Loan? ( PergoCF@cheerful.com )
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@gmail.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@cheerful.com
    A Personal Loan? At 1.00%
    Name,Amount,Country,Loan Durations,Phone, Mobile:
    Please, contact us for more information: PergoCF@qualityservice.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@qualityservice.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@cheerful.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@gmail.com

    We work with individual investors and the company that provides merchant cash advance, asset based lending, commercial real estate refinancing, lines of credit, hard money loans, business acquisition financing, debt consolidation loans, and more. For more information, We encourage you to contact us and learn more about the financing services we offered. If you have any questions or want more information about our company, please feel free to email: Please, contact us for more information: PergoCF@qualityservice.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@qualityservice.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@cheerful.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@gmail.com

    Personal loans may not be right for every borrower looking for a home improvement loan. For example, if you have significant equity in your home and are looking to borrow a large amount, you might be able to save money with lower interest rates on a home equity loan. Also, interest payments on home equity loans and lines of credit can be tax deductible under certain circumstances – that’s not the case with personal loans.
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@qualityservice.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@cheerful.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@gmail.com

    On the other hand, personal loans can make sense for:

    *Recent homebuyers
    *Smaller home improvement loans (e.g., bathroom or kitchen as opposed to full remodel)
    *Borrowers in lower home value markets (if your home value has barely budged since you moved in, you may not have much equity to draw on for a home equity loan)
    *Those who value ease and speed
    *Borrowers with great credit and cash flow

    While home equity loans and lines of credit are a good source of home improvement money if you’ve built up equity in your home, a personal loan may be a better alternative if you’re a new homeowner and need to take care of a few updates to make your new home just right. You can get an affordable loan for just one week. Please connect us at via E-mail Please, contact us for more information: PergoCF@qualityservice.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@qualityservice.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@cheerful.com
    Interested applicants should Contact us via email: PergoCF@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. 📁ARE YOU IN NEED OF A PROFESSIONAL HACKER?(CATCHING A CHEATING SPOUSE, RECOVERY OF LOST FUNDS, WEBSITE HACK...)
    High prolific information and Priviledges comes rare as i would be sharing with you magnificent insight you wish you heard years before now. As it's been understood that what people don't see, they will never know. This post is definitely for those who are willing to turn their lives around for the better, either financial-wise, relationship-wise or businesses.
    Welcome to the Global KOS hacking agency where every request on hacking related issues are met within a short period of time.
    If your shoe fits in any of the required services below, you will be assigned to a designated professional hacker who is systematically known for operating on a dark web V-link protocol.
    The manual Operation of this hackers is to potentially deploy a distinguished hacking techniques to penetrating computers and various type of database system to meet your request.
    Penetration of computing systems are achieved using core software tools like Ransomeware, SQL/Keylogger injection. botnet, trojan and DDOS attacks.
    Providing value added services to clients as a hacker has been our sustaining goal.
    Are you faced with cyber challenges like
    💰Recovery of lost funds:✅It saddens our mind when client expresses annoyance or dissatisfaction of unethical behaviours of scammers. We have striven to make tenacious efforts to help those who are victims of this flees get off their traumatic feeling of loss. The cyber security technique used to retrieving back the victims stolen funds is the application of a diverse intercall XX breacher software enables you track the data location of a scammer. Extracting every informations on the con database, every requested information required by the Global KOS would be used to tracking every transaction, time and location of the scammer using this systematic courier tracking base method.
    📲 Hacking into the mobile phone of a cheating spouse.✅ This type of hack helps you track every movement of your cheater as we are bent on helping you gain full remote access into the cheater's mobile phone using a Trojan breach cracking system to penetrate their social media platforms like Facebook, whatsapp, snapchat etc. This spy processing is used via an HDSI folder which synchronizes the target mobile operating system into a clone S-Drive unit.
    💳Credit Score Upgrade:✅Due to our transformed changes on Equifax tracking , upgrading of credit score are backed by our cyber tech breaching licence, This hacking process drastically generates you an undestructive higher credit score which correlates to a higher level of creditworthiness. The time frame for upgrading a credit score requires eighteen(18) hours
    🅱️ BITCOIN GENERATOR:✅ (Higher job profile). This involves using the ANTPOOL Sysytem drifting a specialized hardware and software implementing tool in slot even-algorithms to incentivize more coins into your wallet which in turn generates more coins exponentially like a dream at specified intervals.
    The company is large enough to provide comprehensive range of services such as.
    • Email hacks📲
    • Hacking of websites.📲
    • Uber free payment hacks.📲
    • website hack.📲
    Our strength is based on the ability to help you fix cyber problems by bringing together active cyber hacking professionals in the GlobalkOS to work with.
    Agency Contact:
    ✉️Email: clarksoncoleman(at)gmail • com.
    Theglobalkos(at)gmail •com.
    ©Global KOS™
    2030.•

    ReplyDelete
  3. A GREAT SPELL CASTER (DR. EMU) THAT HELP ME BRING BACK MY EX GIRLFRIEND.
    Am so happy to testify about a great spell caster that helped me when all hope was lost for me to unite with my ex-girlfriend that I love so much. I had a girlfriend that love me so much but something terrible happen to our relationship one afternoon when her friend that was always trying to get to me was trying to force me to make love to her just because she was been jealous of her friend that i was dating and on the scene my girlfriend just walk in and she thought we had something special doing together, i tried to explain things to her that her friend always do this whenever she is not with me and i always refuse her but i never told her because i did not want the both of them to be enemies to each other but she never believed me. She broke up with me and I tried times without numbers to make her believe me but she never believed me until one day i heard about the DR. EMU and I emailed him and he replied to me so kindly and helped me get back my lovely relationship that was already gone for two months.
    Email him at: Emutemple@gmail.com  
    Call or Whats-app him: +2347012841542

    ReplyDelete