20th: Slievenacloy – Ulster

This was one of the few reserves I’ve visited so far that provided an instant bout of inspiration.  We had been escorted by 2 fantastic members of Ulster Wildlife; Katy Bell and Ronald Surgenor. They were full of enthusiasm and eagerness to share their knowledge of the local wildlife. We had agreed to meet at one entrance to the very large Slievenacloy, a reserve covering many different habitat types that housed a large amount of animal and plant life.

We were there to try and see long-eared owls, although they’re hard to spot and the chances were slim. To help us in our search (well I say “our search” but really it was Katy and Ronald who had any chance of finding them!) we had some incredible pieces of kit.

We had a parabolic microphone, which enhanced any tiny noises and allowed us to hear distant motorbikes, each other’s whispers and the incredible sounding grasshopper warblers (once it had been pointed out to us) a bird I have to admit I’d never even heard of! We were told to listen out for a sound like a squeaky gate as this was the sound long-eared owl chicks make in the nest when begging for food. Something I failed to hear, despite others hearing it when they were in charge of it.

We also had thermal scopes, which were absolutely fascinating things which revealed a whole new world as the sunlight died at the end of the day. I managed to spot rocks that had been heated by the sun, electrical transformer boxes on powerlines and quite a few cows. However, a roaming fox was pointed out to me, which was incredible to watch in the pitch dark. The last of the tech was a bat detector that would listen out for bats and tell you the species. I was very pleased with myself (after my poor performance with all the high tech kit) for spotting a bat and as Katy was informing me it was a Leisler’s bat, Carol whispered out a cry of “What’s that?!” as she pointed up to the very dark sky. She had been the first to spot (as Carol usually does, she’s a very good spotter!) a bird that was erratically flapping in a shambled flight. Both Katy and Ronald exclaimed almost at the same time that it was a long-eared owl! I was thrilled to be watching it as it flew right over our heads and was enthralled by it until it completely disappeared into the darkness. I immediately had the idea for the artwork that will certainly follow.

Beforehand, we had trudged through high grass and had spent quite a while in a boggy area full of bog cotton, a beautiful grass that has tufts of white seeds that look very like cotton and I now want to do a dusk picture of high grasses and bog cotton in the foreground looking across Slievenacloy as a long-eared owl flies across the canvas. I can’t wait to get started!