Water Rail are one of my bogey-birds. Having passed my mid-century, I am embarrassed to admit that I have never seen one of these skulking experts. But Pollardstown Fen is one of the most reliable spots near Dublin to hear them.
They’re no Nightingale. Their call is usually compared to the squeals of a pig being brutally slaughtered. The first time I heard one, I was in the middle of a large reed-bed, and the call erupted (invisibly) from somewhere near my feet. Luckily nobody was around to hear my not dissimilar squeal of terror.
Pollardstown is about 45 minutes from Dublin, along the N7. ( https://goo.gl/maps/tfJC54pu6Lq47Tx16 ) You leave the motorway, and come through the Curragh Racecourse – manicured fields, with clean-legged thoroughbreds prancing around. Shortly after, you will be passing farms and hedgerows. I arrived on a morning in late April, with farmland birds singing their hearts out, and parked in the car park, which unusually had six or seven cars in it. Before I had left the car park, I already had 20 birds ticked, including a very confiding Treecreeper on a young Ash tree. The large trees in the car park have been good for Spotted Flycatcher previously.
Before I reached the boardwalk, I had several warblers – Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler, and later I heard two Grasshopper Warblers reeling in the distance. The boardwalk has metal grids on its surface. When I was young I devoured many “How to Birdwatch” books. They were full of helpful field-craft tips such as “wear a hood, so birds don’t recognise you” and “keep downwind of birds so they don’t smell you” (!!). And authors always advised that you should move as silently and smoothly as a native American stalking a buffalo. The metal grids on the boardwalk give the effect of walking with metal bin lids tied to your feet. No chance of sneaking up on anything here!
There’s a crystal clear river flowing to one side of the board walk, and a Kingfisher flew down stream as I watched. Sand Martins and Swallows were swooping over the fen, and not too far away I heard the delightful sound of a pig being slaughtered – beauty is in the ear of the listener!
Usually my birding trips are a solitary affair, but this trip was unusually sociable. The Midlands Bird Ringing group had set up several nets, and very kindly demonstrated some of their techniques on a Sedge Warbler that they had just caught. This is a “constant effort” site for them, so they visit about once a month. Then I was canvassed by a Green Party candidate – we had a great chat, but sadly I’m not in her constituency.
Pollardstown Fen has the advantage of being very near Kildare Village, which is a designer outlet shopping place. It looks like a Stepford Wives New England village plonked into the middle of Kildare. The designer shops are staffed by fashionable, bored-looking teenagers with unfeasibly healthy, white teeth – nothing like the beige coloured, crooked Irish teeth that we all had in the 1980s. Kildare Village may not be your thing – it’s certainly not mine. However (Top Tip!), you could offer to bring your family there. Then while they wander through the mock New England houses looking at Juicy Couture tracksuits, sneak off birdwatching for a few hours. Now that’s field-craft!
BirdBrain 