Richard Collins on the possibility that the great spotted has bred in Ireland

THE Wild Geese left Ireland to enlist in foreign armies after the wars of the 1690s.

I RINGED four blackcaps in the last month. What’s so remarkable about that you may ask; blackcaps are common birds nowadays.

OUR jays, coal tits and stoats are deemed to be special. The Irish members of these species belong to unique Hibernian races and are not to be found elsewhere in the world.