Visit from Ireland’s leading Bird expert

 

An owl's wing

An owl’s wing

A Swan's feather

A Swan’s feather

A Swallow's nest

A Swallow’s nest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eric Dempsey, one of Ireland’s leading bird experts visited the school on 2nd December. He talked to 2nd, 3rd and 5th class about birds and biodiversity. We learnt all about what makes a bird a bird, their feathers and different facts about different birds.

Here are a few interesting things we learnt:

Swallows migrate to Africa in the Autumn. They travel 10,000km over the ocean and Sahara desert to get to their destination. In Springtime, they fly back to Greystones to the exact nest they were born in.

Swifts fly from Greystones to Africa in 3 weeks. These amazing birds can eat, sleep and drink while they are flying. They are the fastest birds in the world and can catch raindrops. Their numbers are in decline because roofs now have plastic fascia boards rather than wooden ones and so they find it harder to make their nests.

Owls are nocturnal which means they are active at night. They feed on mice and have to fly very quietly to be able to catch their prey. Eric demonstrated that when an owl flaps its wings there is no sound at all.

Trees provide shelter, food and homes for birds and insects. Eric explained how everything in nature is interlinked. If you lose the tree you lose the birds habitat, the insects habitat,the shelter it provided for the rabbits and foxes, the berries that fed the birds, the flowers that gave the bees nectar, the mushrooms that grew on the tree, etc, etc. This is the web of life and this ties in with our own biodiversity code ‘ don’t let species go extinct, in this world we are all linked.

To find out more about Eric go to www.birdsireland.com

 

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1 thought on “Visit from Ireland’s leading Bird expert

  1. Emma from 2nd class

    I saw Eric on the telly! He was on a wildlife program talking about swallows in Africa. I can’t believe he was in our class and then on the TV. I love swallows!

    Reply

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