Cork's Lough to offer home to colony of sand martins

The newly installed sandmarten house at the lough, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

An idea hatched during a walk around Cork’s famous Lough bird sanctuary, could help create a new colony of sand martins in the heart of the city.

A new purpose-built birdhouse which mimics the migratory bird’s natural breeding habitat has been installed on the island, in the centre of the much-loved amenity.

It is hoped the birds, which winter in the southern Sahara before migrating thousands of miles to Europe for the summer, will flock to their new home on the city’s southside.

There are plans to install a special birdcall 'audio lure' on the structure soon, pending the granting of a special licence application, to encourage the first occupants to move in.

Maria Young, from the Green Spaces for Health group, said everyone in the project has high hopes it will take off.

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“Sand martins have been spotted in the area already but it’s probably a bit too early for them to move into the birdhouse. 

Based on the success of similar birdhouses elsewhere, we’re really looking forward to watching the progress of this over the coming weeks and months

Sand martins normally burrow into the faces of sand and gravel pits, or into sandy cliffs and muddy riverbanks, to lay their eggs in chambers at the end of the tunnels, clustering in colonies of up to 100 pairs.

They rarely nest in urban areas, unlike their larger cousins, the swallows and house martins, although some have been spotted nesting along Cork’s city quay walls, and along the banks of the river Bride in Blackpool in recent weeks.

The Lough's new birdhouse is modelled on a similar project at the Harper’s Island wetlands near Glounthaune, east of Cork City, which was built by the Glounthaune Men’s Shed group and installed last year.

If features 24 holes which were fully occupied by several sand martins last year shortly after its installation.

Ms Young said she and birdwatcher, Noel Linehan, came up with the idea of replicating that on the Lough during a walk around the lake last October.

She approached Cork City Council for special permission for the one-off house and then asked the members of Glounthaune Men’s Shed group if they’d build it.

They agreed and it was delivered, in sections, by Lough caretaker Pat Carroll in a rowing boat, and installed earlier this week by council carpenter, David Byrne, on a platform he built.

It is being ‘plastered’ to look like a cliff face and its 16 pipes have been filled with sand. Barring a few minor additions, including anti-predator ledges, it’s ready to go, just as nesting seasons begins.

The Harper’s Island birdhouse was fully occupied within a year of its installation.

“And what birdwatchers found was that once chicks hatched and fledged, another family of sand martins was able to move it and roost there too.

“We are hoping for the same kind of success with it,”  Ms Young said.

She is already working on plans for a similar birdhouse in the Atlantic Pond, which is set to become a new wetlands habitat under the next stage of the ambitious Marina Park development.