Report by Heather Bothwell
A group of brave souls headed out on a very wet evening in Killykeen, forest, Co. Cavan. The hope was to hear Garden Warbler, but we came away with a no show. The car parks in the forest are locked at 9 pm until 9 am, because of trouble from vandalism and criminal groups. , so we thank Paddy Tighe of Coillte and Josie Smith for facilitating this evening walk. Birdwatchers ( known for keeping odd hours) visiting Killykeen may park at the gate and walk in !
We managed to hear a reasonable array of woodland birds, including Blackcaps. Blackcaps are on the increase at the moment and have been shown to compete with garden warblers for territories from research in England. Garden warbler prefer younger scrubby growth and some of killykeen may be past this stage at the minute. Garden warbler are quite limited in there distribution the Cavan lake land being a stronghold.