AFTER DARK 02

WHAT MOVES AFTER DARK

You may hear it first

There are animals around Killarney you may spend an entire stay never seeing.

That doesn't mean they were not there.

Night animals are generally not interested in putting on a performance for visitors. You might hear wings moving through trees, something crossing undergrowth or a call you cannot identify. Sometimes that is all you get.

THE RUSTY GATE

Long-eared owl

Long-eared owls are widespread residents in Ireland and they commonly breed in woodland, often in stands of conifers. They are remarkably difficult to see because they are nocturnal and very well camouflaged.

In summer, the young sometimes give them away.

BirdWatch Ireland describes the begging call of a juvenile as sounding like a rusty gate. So if you are sitting quietly and somewhere in the trees you hear what sounds suspiciously like a very small gate that badly needs oiling, it may not be the gate.

It may be an owl asking for dinner.

And the familiar British twit-twoo? Don't wait for it. Ireland does not have an established resident tawny-owl population.

THE SHRIEK

Barn owl

Barn owls are scarce residents in Ireland, with the population concentrated mainly through central and southern areas including the southwest.

They are pale underneath, almost ghostly in bad light, and their most familiar call is not a hoot at all. It is a loud shriek.

BirdWatch Ireland notes that the shrieking call and pale appearance helped associate the barn owl with the Banshee in Irish tradition.

Imagine hearing one before electric lights existed and before somebody could immediately search the sound on a phone.

You can probably forgive people for deciding something supernatural had happened.

Lesser horseshoe bat hanging by its feet with wings partly wrapped around its body — Lesser horseshoe bat. Kerry is within its restricted Irish range.

LOOK AT THE SKY AROUND DUSK

Bats

Most Irish bats emerge between sunset and about ninety minutes afterwards, so dusk is a good time to stop staring into the trees and look against the remaining light in the sky.

You may think you saw a small bird until it turns. Then turns again. Then changes direction in a way that no sensible bird appears interested in doing.

Kerry is part of the restricted Irish range of the lesser horseshoe bat. It is the only resident Irish bat that hangs freely by its feet and wraps its wings around its body.

Near water you may see Daubenton's bats feeding low over the surface. Pipistrelles are amongst the bats more commonly encountered around buildings, gardens and woodland edges.

Do not shine a torch into a roost entrance. Watch the open sky around it instead.

THE THINGS YOU PROBABLY WON'T SEE

The rest of the night shift

Badgers begin moving. Foxes travel. Pine martens are mainly active at night and dusk. Killarney's otters are nocturnal and are most often spotted around dawn or dusk. Deer move through woodland and open ground, sometimes sounding considerably less elegant than they look in daylight.

Underneath all of that are moths, insects and small mammals carrying on lives that barely intersect with ours.

You are probably sharing the darkness with much more than you realise.

WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?

Not everything needs solving

A scream somewhere in the darkPossibly fox.

A rusty gate in the treesYoung long-eared owl is worth considering.

A harsh shriek overheadBarn owl, perhaps.

Something heavy crashing through vegetationDeer can be less graceful than wildlife documentaries suggest.

Something splashed beside the lakeMaybe otter. Maybe fish. Maybe something considerably less exciting.

Don't go crashing through the undergrowth trying to find out. Sometimes the best chance of discovering what made the noise is to stay exactly where you are.