Waterford Estuary Otter Survey
I was recently awarded a grant from The Heritage Council to conduct an otter survey along the Waterford Estuary. This project will study the distribution of otters in the Waterford Estuary combining …
Science Communication Archive
How to Look for Signs of Bats
This is a guest post written by Andrew Harrington. Andrew has also written other posts on this blog. So, you might have figured out by now that I quite like bats, …
The Pine Marten of the Mourne Mountains
The Mourne Mountains situated in the south eastern corner of Northern Ireland are a granite mountain range. The area is popular with tourists, hillwalkers and those interested in wildlife. The …
The stench of compatibility: How otters identify one another, and potential mates by smelling their poop
Otters don’t tend to be very visible to us, but they are more abundant than we might perceive them to be. Otters mostly live in isolation of one another, …
The Bat with the Identity Crisis
The Bat with the Identity Crisis or “Will the real Myotis nattereri please stand up?” By Andrew Harrington. There is a misfortunate bat species that is going through a bit …
How to Look for Squirrels
The Eurasian red squirrel is, in my opinion at least, one of the cutest additions to the Irish countryside. The little ear tufts of the red squirrel help differentiate …
Feeding the Buzzards
Birds of Prey in Ireland About 100 years ago, Ireland was devoid of large birds of prey like buzzards, red kites and golden eagles. Their populations were decimated by …
Podcast from my Interview on Near FM’s Enviro Show
I was recently invited to participate on the Enviro Show hosted on Dublin’s Community Radio Station, Near FM. We chatted about red squirrels, grey squirrels, pine marten, invasive species …
How to Look for Pine Marten
The pine marten (Martes martes) is making a recovery across Ireland, and is one our most beautiful but elusive mammals. It is notoriously difficult to see as it tends …
How to Look for Otters
In the first of a new series of posts about “How to Look for Mammals“, I take a look at one of our semi aquatic species, the Eurasian otter. …
How to Look for Mammals
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to present a workshop at the National Biodiversity Data Centre on Saturday September 13th on the art of “Tracking Ireland’s Mammals”. This was …
Wind Turbines Pose Risk to Bats
The Drive for Green Energy We need sustainable, affordable and clean energy production to fuel the economy, and the drive towards more environmentally friendly energy production versus coal and …
Attraction in the World of Bats
We spend much of our lives attempting to figure out the opposite sex in the hopes that it will lead to increased opportunities to attract a mate. But even when in a relationship, looking …
What a difference a shrew makes
Last year, I wrote an article about how we used pine marten (Martes martes) scats or faeces to detect the DNA of small mammals that the pine marten had …
Are Irish badgers a distinct subspecies?
I recently got the opportunity to contribute to an article with Allan McDevitt about the species status of the Eurasian badger (Meles meles) in Ireland. In this article, we examine …
Nietoperek Revisited
This post was written by Andrew Harrington You might remember last year Denise wrote an article on this blog about the Nietoperek bat reserve in Poland, which is one …
The Urban Otter
The banks of our own lovely Lee are not just a pretty place for a walk, the Lee is an important place for the otter, often described as our …
The “Infallible” DNA Test
Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and pine marten (Martes martes) produce scats (faeces) that look quite similar. There are a list of rules, suggestions, smells and descriptions used by field naturalists …
It may be time to squirrel proof your bird feeder
Grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) were introduced into Britain and Ireland in the late 1800s and early 1900s from North America. The species is classed as invasive, and it has …
The Odyssey of the Lesser Horseshoe Bat
Written by Andrew Harrington. The lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) is one of the smallest of Ireland’s nine resident bat species, weighing only about 7 grams, roughly the same as …
Timing and defining the Killarney shad
Killarney National Park situated in South West Ireland is famous for containing some unusual species that are not found elsewhere in the country including the Kerry spotted slug (Geomalacus maculosus), a …
From faeces to species: genetic identification of otters from spraints
Non-invasive genetic monitoring involves the use of DNA to survey a target species without directly trapping or observing it. The technique is particularly useful for rare, elusive or secretive …
Monitoring small mammals using predator scats
Ireland has few species of small mammals, and only some of these are native. The pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus) and the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) are considered to be …
Calling into question the accuracy of the ‘Standard Otter Survey’
We are required to survey otters across Europe as the species has been designated as being of conservation concern, under the EU Habitats and Species Directive. This means that …
The extinction of the Irish brown bear
A new study by Saoirse Leonard and co-authors from the Institute of Zoology, London and the University of Liverpool model the potential survival of brown bears in an Irish …
Eye of the Tiger
A new study on the genetic structure of the Indian tiger has found that the current tiger population now only retain a small proportion of the historical mitochondrial DNA …
The Boar Truth
The first wild boar I saw were not wild per se, but were held in a captive programme near Białowieża Forest, Poland. The park contains many other large wild …
The Artful Badger
Last year, I published a paper with my co-authors about the genetic history of badgers in Ireland. Similar to my post last week, it appears that like the pine marten, …
Genetic heritage of the pine marten
claimtoken-5161a571ef9fe The role of the The Last Glacial Maximum and how it impacted the colonization of plants and animals in Europe is a subject that continues to intrigue scientists. …
Science Ink – When science and tattoos collide
Farmed mink escapee?
The American mink (Neovision vison) is well established in Ireland due to the importation of animals for fur farming since 1950. In 1960 it was thought there were 60 breeders …
A wolf in dog’s clothing?
When I first visited the Zumwalt Prairie, NE Oregon in 2007, wolves were still absent from the area. Wolves from the translocated population in Yellowstone were at the time expanding …
The parasite woe
While walking through the cow shed, Jimmy sees a couple of cows grouped together in the corner. He instinctively knows that something is wrong. As he gets closer, he …
The Bug Reveal
In the words of Tyler DeWitt, “let me tell you a story”. Today’s story is about a fly, a carrion fly that eats the rotting carcasses of animals. This little fly …
Nietoperek Bat Reserve, Poland
This week I have decided to write about a trip I took last year to the Nietoperek bat and nature reserve in Poland. I was very lucky to visit as …