We come upon an inlet and see in one take sedate mallard snug-looking wigeon teal pochard tufted duck with purple crowns whooper swans Brent
Posted in General on 21. Jul, 2010
We come upon an inlet and see in one take, sedate mallard, snug-looking wigeon, teal, pochard, tufted duck with purple crowns, whooper swans, Brent geese, a black- headed gull, delicately feathered pintail, stern-eyed golden eye, coots, moorhens and a rook. There’s a waiting list for guns, but some vacancies do occur. It’s not like it used to be 100 years ago when punt gunners like Larry Duggan’s grandfather crept out, lying belly-down in their flimsy floats, and with a lanyard discharged two pounds of shot from the 10ft cannon mounted on their bows into flocks of birds.”He once killed 160 teal in one shot,” Larry says “He sold them afterwards. The tiniest parish in the world lies here, Saint Doologue’s, a mere two hectares small. At one end of the main street, cosy White’s Hotel can boast that Robert McClure – who discovered the North-West Passage – was born upstairs, while Kelly’s pub at the other end can claim one William Cody Sr, father of Buffalo Bill.Out on the South Slob Bill Fiske’s neighbour, David Gallagher, also runs a shoot David has been here since 1959. Both Bill and David rear mallard for their shoots and rarely bag even a half of what they release.
Today, clinging like a barnacle to Wexford Harbour, it’s a charming town of twisting streets, ancient walls and a long quay. Along this waterfront, before he emigrated to America, walked young John Barry, founder of the US Navy. “If I was back there I’d vote for Paddy Ashdown,” he says as a flight of 10 Bewick’s swans come over like 747s and immediately after them, riding the wind in the opposite direction, a flock of eight teal dart along the channel. As we follow the teal towards the sun and catch a glint of their green, across the sky explodes a dust cloud of lapwing, easily 1,000, dispersing over the town.Established by Norsemen in the ninth century (Weiss Fiord), 300 years later Wexford was a Norman administration by virtue of the mercenaries hired from France by the Irish king, Dermot MacMurrough. A north Essex man who came to Wexford 30 years ago via Kenya where he was an agricultural officer, Bill farms a dairy herd on the North Slob and also runs a shoot.
He’s concerned about a nearby carrot farmer whose gas bird scarer is frightening away the game.”All that’s left over there is 80 swans and four deaf ducks,” Bill remarks.He likes the life but keeps abreast of matters across the water. It takes them 17 hours to fly to Iceland where they stage for two weeks. Then they cross the icecap to the western coast of Greenland.”With the aid of a powerful telescope, Alyn is identifying specific birds that he fitted with numbered collars in Greenland the year before. He hopes to fit the birds with satellite packs, already in use on swans, which will be invaluable for learning more about the migratory habits of the geese.Half a mile inland, Bill Fiske is feeding his ducks. It was not until 1947 that they were distinguished as a unique sub- species by Sir Peter Scott.Alyn Walsh has lived and worked on the North Slob for 15 years. He and his colleague, Christian Glahder, monitor the Greenland White-fronts in both Ireland and Greenland as part of an international study.