One of the most common garden birds in Ireland, the blackbird Turdus merula or Lon Dubh in Irish, is coming under threat from a mosquito-borne virus known as Usutu virus.

Now in Ireland, the virus has been the cause of significant population declines in the UK and other countries, London lost 50% of it's blackbird population between 2019 and 2020.

The blackbird was seen as a symbol of good luck in Ireland, especially in pairs or when it enters a house.

It was said that Saint Kevin of Glendalough, while praying inside his small cell, arms outstretched through an opening, had a blackbird land on his hand. The bird made a nest on it and laid eggs, the saint it is said, remained in position long enough for the eggs to hatch and fledge.

Seamus Heaney even wrote a poem on the legend.

Blackbirds were said to have been brought to Ireland by the legendary Finn MacCool, famous in mythology for creating the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim, from a visit to Norway where he heard their sweet whistle.

Indeed modern studies and evidence from ringed birds show that many blackbirds migrate to Ireland from Norway in winter for the milder climate.

Because it sings so loudly at dusk and dawn, the blackbird is often associated with the Otherworld, being messengers or symbolising reincarnation.

It would be sad to think of a further decline in blackbird numbers here in Ireland so let's appreciate these beautiful ground-hopping songbirds.

Cormorants are large seabirds well adapted to swimming and diving. You'll often see them floating, almost submerged on the sea, a river or a lake or standing on rocks with wings outstretched drying.

Broigheall is the Irish name and Phalacrocorax carbo is the latin name for these birds which are found extensively throughout Ireland.

Easy to confuse with shags, usually cormorants will have a white patch, as seen in the image above, around the thigh and also cormorants are more likely to be found inland even at lake and river sites.

Shags have a steeper forehead rising from the bill which is marked by a crest of feathers and almost always in Ireland remain coastal.

If you are wondering how seabirds get airborne, here's an interesting sequence from the west of Ireland.

Here, a lone cormorant taking off from the calm surface of a lake in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland shows that it is basically running on water, you can see the splashes of water kicked up by those webbed feet as its wings begin to generate lift.

Quite a sight, a fine sunny summer's day and the sounds of wildlife all around.

Finally airborne.

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