Irish Extra October 2020
I walked a local duck spot on September 1st with my Harris Hawk, in most circumstances he wouldn’t have the speed for a duck or teal, but the cover surrounding this area would give him a chance and should we get in reasonably close I would be fairly confident of one in the bag, but it was not to be! All we saw was a large greasy Cormorant who looked packed full of young fish. Two days later and my wife gave birth to our second child, Harry George who was a whopping 9lb 6 and arrived in fine style at 12.26 on 3rd September, a lovely Autumn baby who can celebrate his future birthdays with a duck shoot! A week later and I was itching to get out for a shine with my little whippet bitch “Sally” and we set off around 10.30 when things quietened down and headed for some local fields I hadn’t lamped in a while. It had been such a while that I forgot the big field had a large concrete slab in the middle to cover and old well and tripped on it in the dark, smashing my lamp, somehow breaking my thumb and scaring the dog off into the darkness! Not the best lamping trip or start to the season but a memorable one all the same, we managed a couple of rabbits before and a few after before I realised my thumb looked like a plumb and might actually be worse than I thought!
Lead Ban
On Thursday 3rd September the EU REACH committee approved a proposal to ban lead shot over wetlands, within 2 years. This proposal will now have to be ratified by the EU Council within 3 months. Once ratified, which is considered a certainty, it will need to be published in in the Official Journal, and 20 days after this, the regulation will come into force and the 2 year transition will begin which will of course affect Irish Shooters.
The implications of this for the UK / NI are currently unclear. If the regulation comes into force before the Brexit transition period is over, on December 31st, then the UK & NI will technically be obliged to adopt it.
This is concerning because the proposal uses the problematic RAMSAR definition of wetlands which includes “any body of water, permanent or temporary”, and within scenario.
We are monitoring the situation carefully, but should the UK be obliged to adopt our plan for a 5 year voluntary transition away from lead shot in live quarry shooting is the best lobbying tool we have to persuade the government that this is an unnecessary restriction, will cause undue chaos and should not be adopted.
100m of these. Our estimates show that this covers roughly 60% of the mainland UK and more so in Ireland. A pheasant drive next to a flowing ditch in December would count in this
Irish Deer Notes
Country Sports Ireland Deer Research in Collaboration with Queens University Belfast
Research undertaken by Queens University Belfast in collaboration with Country Sports Ireland has indicated that deer across Ireland are in healthy condition and that muntjac sightings are occurring in new areas.
The aim of QUB research in collaboration with Country Sports Ireland has been to develop a method for assessing and predicting the transmission of parasites between livestock and deer. The likelihood of this transmission depends on deer behaviour, the impact of climate on parasite development, landscape parameters and other factors.
Thanks to all those Country Sports Ireland members and supporters who completed the recent online survey. QUB have acknowledged the importance of the knowledge of the hunting community in gaining deer and parasite information. With over 40% of respondents to the recent survey hunting for more than 10 years and 73% of respondents undertaking training that included lessons on deer health, the importance of hunters in science is clearer now than ever.
Feedback from the hunting community has also shown that ticks and liver fluke are the most common parasite found in deer here and some pilot post mortem work at QUB indicates that deer contain gutworms which are more typically associated with sheep and cows.
There are plans for both organisations to continue to collaborate on other deer research projects and the continued support of the hunting community via questionnaires and collection of samples will be very important.
From the NPWS
The Department has received a large volume of telephone calls in the last few days from applicants enquiring about their deer hunting applications. The NPWS are currently processing deer hunting applications and licences will issue to applicants in the coming weeks. There may be some delays in the issuing of licences given current working arrangements due to Covid-19 but the NPWS will endeavour to issue as many licences as possible prior to 1 September, the start of the deer hunting season. You can also email the Wildlife Licensing Unit at wildlifelicence@chg.gov.ie relating to your application. Your patience in this matter is appreciated.
A Simon Trinder “Special”
I was most pleased to receive in the post today, a package I had been looking forward to for a while. Duck shooting in Ireland is something that hasn’t been covered much artistically, least of all when it involves inland Teal, teckels and .410 shot guns, but country sports artist Simon Trinder captured a scene from a photograph I had absolutely fantastically with water colour and looking at it one can almost feel the sun, the cold and the noise of the ducks rising as the shooter squats along a fence with a Teckel and a .410. Simon, a well known British artist has an exceptional talent and prior to this piece, painted for me a stunning and most unique night time “Long Netting” scene, which could only have been captured by Simon as he was a Long Netter himself in years gone by. Thank you again Simon and no doubt we will be discussing something else very soon.
Irish Chub Threat
Inland Fisheries Ireland have confirmed the re-appearance of the invasive fish species chub (Squalius cephalus) on the River Inny in Longford. Chub when introduced have the potential to compete with our native fishes for food and space and are potentially a carrier of fish diseases and parasites. IFI is investigating the extent of the invasion and assessing strategies for eradication and control. The threat of Chub spreading through the Shannon system (the River Inny is a tributary of the Shannon) is of real and pending concern to the biodiversity of Ireland’s biggest catchment.
The fish was captured on rod and line at a targeted location identified by IFI staff who recorded potential sightings at several locations. The initial inspection followed reports submitted to IFI and the National Biodiversity Data Center by members of the public.
Chub are non-native in Ireland, and the River Inny is the only Irish river in which they have been recorded. The species was subject to removal operations between 2006 and 2010 and it was hoped that chub had been eradicated. It is unclear at this stage whether these fish represent growth in the original population or are as a result of a second introduction. Inland Fisheries Ireland are endeavoring to establish the status and distribution of the species within the catchment which will help inform potential management programmes.
Dr. Cathal Gallagher (Head of Research) stated, “Ireland’s rivers are ecologically important ecosystems, which support significant recreational fisheries for native and established fish species. Non-native fish species threaten these ecosystems and the game and coarse fisheries that they support – potentially in unforeseen ways – and are thus a cause for concern. We would appeal to anglers to protect our fisheries by not moving fish between watercourses for any reason and submit any sightings directly to IFI or through the IFI hotline (1850 34 74 24).”
Irish Shots!
Well done Susan McCann on her first of hopefully many Salmon. Susan, the long suffering partner of Ghillie Ernie McCann is also an Irish whippet enthusiast and I meet her regularly at the Irish Game Fair and other shows across the country. Well done Susan, tightlines.
Until Next time – Good Hunting!