Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => General Chat => Topic started by: beau on July 19, 2011
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Just wondering what kind of animals people have spotted out and about.Seen a lizard last year,family of stouts playing in stone wall,carnivorous plant last week red kite i think.even santa and his reindeer out for walk by santas cottage in the mournes :).Have yet to see the beast of the mournes thow im sure i,ve felt his eyes on me :)
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I found a lizard in the boot of the car yesterday must have brought it back with us from the mournes in the tent. was pretty cool but then let it go in the garden unsure if it was a great idea.
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As an ecologist I'm lucky enough to get to go off the beaten track across the whole of NI on the most private of private lands. Plants are my thing and I've pretty much seen the best this country has to offer. But animal wise, I really enjoyed spending a relaxing lunch time in the sunshine watching red squirrels play in the trees above my head during the spring this year. But my all time favourite was being surrounded by red deer during the rut last autumn. Hearing the stags roar all around, but out of sight was pretty amazing and finished off by a sunset silhouette of a stag on the adjacent hill. Magical.
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Edd666 and myself just back from a bit of mountain biking in Drumkeeragh forest tonight, came round a bend and seen 2x red deer on the path 10m in front, class ! ;D
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carnivorous plant last week
Think I forgot to post on here about it but in June there were insectivorous common butterwort in bloom along the Brandy Pad (between the wall and the Commedagh "castles").
http://www.habitas.org.uk/flora/species.asp?item=4184 (http://www.habitas.org.uk/flora/species.asp?item=4184)
There's wildlife about everywhere if you keep an eye out. Birds are everywhere for a start and you'll see a load of different species if you pay attention and put a small bit of effort in to learning them.
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"The Beast of the Mournes" now lives in Scotland, she was my ex girl friend :)
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:D :D
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A few weeks ago this popped into my head for some reason. i dunno, maybe about ten years ago there were all these reports about a large black puma roaming wild around the north coast, i think a few dead sheep were found but i didnt hear of any cat being captured, the reports just seemed to fade away, what happened?
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There were big cat rumours in the Mournes too. Think they always turn out to be hoaxes or confusion.
A few weeks ago this popped into my head for some reason. i dunno, maybe about ten years ago there were all these reports about a large black puma roaming wild around the north coast, i think a few dead sheep were found but i didnt hear of any cat being captured, the reports just seemed to fade away, what happened?
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Was it not Bear Grylls, guys an animal
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Apart from possibly an individual escaped animal there is absolutely no way a population of wild big cats could survive in NI. There's nowhere near enough habitat or prey and there's too many people.
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More people more victims :)Heres an old newspaper account ,Keeper named Kane Rostrevor,trapped a mountain cat,which for some time had caused a deal of trouble.The animal was said to have imense,measuring almost five feet in length and its skin,which was preserved by mr kane,was reported to have been a beautiful yellow and white.....So ye never know, don.t go on to the moor :)
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Have seen buzzards, kestrels, peregrine, lizards, stoats, pine martens, an otter, red kite and a kingfisher at various times, hard to beat a bit of wildlife! (never saw any big cats tho! :P)
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Here is a wild animal we found in the small cave on the tower area on Hen Mountain
Dont know how he got there ?
(http://i.imgur.com/s2GWb.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/ug2WW.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/iyMei.jpg)
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Seen an otter one nite early hours of morning really wet nite,Was coming home from working in nite club it crossed in front of car crossing the road give us a shock.Funny thing was half a mile from nearest river,it was heading away from river towards higher ground and houses.My friend thought it might have been up looking for food in dog bowls,is that normal do otters roam cross country?
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Apart from possibly an individual escaped animal there is absolutely no way a population of wild big cats could survive in NI. There's nowhere near enough habitat or prey and there's too many people.
So what are those bleating animals in wooly coats I always see in the Mournes? They'd look tasty to a big cat! :D
I often used to see hares on the slopes of Binnian but haven't seen any in a while.
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OK wild prey. Anything killing a sheep would be killed itself not long after!
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OK wild prey. Anything killing a sheep would be killed itself not long after!
Obviously you have no idea of the numbers of wild deer that this country holds, we have red, sika, fallow and apparently muntjac deer. i've seen mega groups of sika and fallow in few areas in countys derry, armagh and fermanagh. groups of 30-60.
Is that enough to feed them? all wild populations, so hard for anyone to keep track of numbers.
I don't think we have a population of big wild cats, but it is possible that we have 1 or 2 escapees or dumped.
strangest thing i've ever seen in the wild was a totally bald mangey fox. looked a right freak.
seen red kites, buzzards, few owls, otter, eels, squirrels of red and grey, red and white badger, wild rabbits in various colours, seals, but the weirdest was a huge frog/toad
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There's about 2,500 deer in NI according to this guy http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/letters/mass-slaughter-of-deer-no-way-to-protect-trees-14640679.html.
I still suspect that there just wouldn't be enough space or prey to support large land predators. Sadly the majority of NI is a green desert of overly-fertilised silage fields. There's more wildlife in town parks than in a lot of our countryside.
That being said, wildlife is still hanging in there. Birds of prey are always impressive, I've seen kestrel, buzzard, sparrowhawk, merlin, hen harrier, peregrine, osprey, red kite (reintroduced birds) and white-tailed eagle (reintroduced bird from Co, Kerry) in NI.
Although not always popular, corvids and gulls are also favourites of mine.
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On Saturday between ten and twenty ravens were performing aerobatics around the cliffs south of the summit of Slieve Muck. I suspect most were young birds i.e. this years young. Saw one do a full 360 degree roll which is always class.