Dublin Waterways Bird Survey

Birds. Our garden neighbors, our pesky pigeons, and our favorite singers. Most people – including me – don't usually take much notice of most of our everyday birds. Sparrows buzz by as nondescript chirruping and singing gives us an unspecific audible backdrop to a summer's day. A recent push by Dublin City Council and Birdwatch Ireland is trying to change the casual way most Dubliners see their feathered friends, especially those in and around our urban waterways.

Kingfisher
Photo: Birdwatch Ireland

They are collecting citizen observation data on four waterbird species in particular. The most famous (and easily-recognized) is the kingfisher. Its bright colors are clearly visible as it buzzes by just above the surface of the water. I noticed these birds on some of my first fishing trips on the River Dodder, and recognized their similarity to the North American belted kingfisher.

Dipper
Photo: Birdwatch Ireland

Dippers have an interesting – and maybe unique – hunting behavior: they walk along the bottom of fast-moving streams to collect food from submerged rocks. I've seen these little guys along the river, but have yet to see their aquatic tricks.

Grey Wagtail
Photo: Birdwatch Ireland

The grey wagtails are recognizable by their banana yellow bellies and very long tails, which they "wag" back-and-forth and up-and-down as they perch on riverside rocks looking for insects.

Sand Martin
Photo: Birdwatch Ireland

The swallow-like sand martin makes its nests in burrows dug into riverbanks throughout Ireland, though it isn't a year-round resident.

If you see one of these birds in a Dublin river or waterway, Birdwatch Ireland kindly asks that you report it on the survey, which can be found here under the title, "Dublin City Waterways Bird Survey." You will be asked to record the species, date, and specific location of the sighting – you may have to use the provided tool to find the exact map grid reference for your sighting – and any breeding behaviors like nest-building or chick-rearing observed. Filling the form is easy and only takes a minute. The data will be used to help the council work to better preserve our local biodiversity and our sensitive native species. 

I'll be out on the rivers this summer looking for fish, but now I'll have four new local species to watch for. See you on the water!

Balsam Bashing on the River Dodder

If I write too much about my local River Dodder, it's only because this urban stream is my nearest and dearest source of a peaceful, natural retreat from the noise of the city. A place to fish, to sit, to watch the wildlife, and enjoy the simpler things in life.

A new addition to my river-protecting volunteer projects is the removal of harmful invasive species from the river. Dublin recently celebrated Biodiversity Week, a time to celebrate the wide array of native plants and animals. Native being the important word, as exotic species introduced (intentionally or unintentionally) by humans pose a threat to many fragile ecosystems.

In Ireland, one such invader is the garden escapee Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera). This admittedly attractive garden plant proliferates on riverbanks, its seeds carried on the water to take root downstream. It grows quickly and drives out native Irish riverbank plants before seeding and dying out itself, leaving a bare bank prone to erosion with the winter floods.

To celebrate Biodiversity Week, Dublin City Council Biodiversity invited the community to the riverbanks for a quick lesson in balsam identification and eradication. I jumped in with other members of Dodder Action and some environmentally-minded employees of a riverside business to bash some balsam. 

Our First Specimen

It wasn't long after we received our identification training that we were hauling out handfuls of this harmful plant. After less than an hour, our team of a dozen volunteers had nabbed buckets and bags of the stuff, leaving one small (but not insignificant) stretch of river free for the native plants to once again take hold.

The Team and the Harvest

Destined for Compost

Local enthusiasts gathering each spring to pull balsam have completely wiped it out on the banks of the Blackwater – another river in Southwest Ireland – and Dublin's biodiversity team hopes that such a community-led initiative can accomplish the same thing here. It is inspiring volunteer efforts like this that keep me hopeful for the future of our urban and suburban habitats. In the twenty-first century, conservation and caring are no longer just for green-minded radicals.

Dodder Day 2015

It's difficult to believe that a full year has gone by since my first River Dodder cleanup last spring. I wrote my first published Irish newspaper article covering the cleanup and, of course, blogged (and bragged) about it here.

Since then, I've become more active in the planning of the various Dodder events with the volunteer community organization Dodder Action. To promote last week's cleanup and show the impact only a few volunteers can have in a short time, I got together with a few other Dodder Action members under the main bridge in nearby Donnybrook to gather up what we could on only a short stretch of the river. We collected quite a mound.

Donnybrook River Dodder Rubbish

A photographer from Irish newspaper the Herald stopped by to grab a story and a few photos. After the quick-clean for the photo shoot, I did some fishing and caught some great images of a heron catching and eating a large eel near a trashed motorcycle dumped over the river wall.

Why am I cleaning w/ @DodderAction tomorrow? This heron enjoying an eel near a trashed motorcycle. S/he deserves more pic.twitter.com/nXvBD3jEAm
— Cory Hanson (@HansonCory1) April 17, 2015

The event was a rousing success, as always. Hundreds of volunteers hauled out tons (and tonnes!) of litter, landfill spillover, dumped household appliances, and metal from the river. The stretches that I worked at Orwell, Donnybrook, and Herbert Park looked great after just a few hours' work from a small-but-dedicated group of local volunteers.

I got to know many of the neighborhood people, and they got to know each other, as we worked side by side caring for our shared resource. Everyone shared their stories about the river and how they use it, and I was playfully asked more than once, "I'll bet you didn't grow up on the Dodder, did you?" To which I could answer, "Nope, I grew up on a slightly larger river in North America – the Mississippi."

I found a nice letter to the editor in the Irish Times from a representative of the Dodder Anglers – another river-loving local club – praising not only the efforts of Dodder community residents, but local cleanings led by concerned volunteers around the country.

It is inspiring to see so many people in local neighborhoods gather to care for their local resources, be they rivers, trails, lakes, or parks. With so much isolationism and "It's not my responsibility!" sentiment around today, it's refreshing to hear a resounding, "It's not mine or yours, but our responsibility to keep our local treasures just that – treasures to be passed on."

If you are local in Dublin and would like to get involved in Dodder-specific activities, see Dodder Action's website for more information. If not, take this opportunity to find local community action groups in your own neighborhood and get involved. If you can't find one, start one! Government authorities are great for building community resources, but no one knows better how to care for their own neighborhood like good neighbors.

River Dodder Heron