Barry Nolan Q&A: ‘Most of the day is spent on the skyline at Croke Park’

When the dust settles on this evening’s All-Ireland football final replay, Barry Nolan and two Harris’s hawks will wing into action, helping to protect the stadium from seagulls and pigeons arriving to feast on the food and scraps left by Dublin and Mayo spectators.

The Harris’s hawk nests in social units that vary from an adult pair, to as many as seven individuals, including both adults and immatures. Co-operatively hunting groups of Harris’s Hawks are more successful at capturing prey than individuals hunting alone. Electrocution from power poles is a danger to the hawks, but other members of the group sometimes come to the aid of injured individuals, providing them with food.

Q: Can you explain what your business, Wildlife Management Services, is all about?