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wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1163 Location: Campile. Wexford

As overheard at the local supermarket checkout. Have any of you guys seen or heard?

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quarryman · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 417 Location: Sligo

They usually turn out to be the call of a Vixen.

But the tradition goes back centuries.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 227

Sure is a scarey sound ! Don't think I would leave my nice mud hut on a dark night to see what it really came from . I'd settle for Banshee . Still would sometimes ! Laughing

Something around here makes a strange "whirring " sort of noise from dusk until very late if there is any moonlight . It is difficult to tell where it is coming from and , indeed , it seems to move from place to place at an impossible speed . Always somewhere above you , could be up in the hills or perhaps sky . Rolling Eyes

I know it is a bird because I have witnessed them , but on only one occasion . It is not big ( ?? blackbird size ? ) , it hovvers high up then drops , like a lark does . It makes the noise as it dives . Doesn't sound vocal so perhaps it is caused by wind over wing feathers ? From reading up I am pretty sure it is Nightjar but as far as locals are concerned it is "the Nanny Goat " ( said in a fairly hushed tone ) and they will not be told otherwise !
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wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1163 Location: Campile. Wexford

I think that you have Nightjars about your place. You discribe them to a "T" mate.
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blowin · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 3:48 am Post subject:

I have certainly been known to have a few jars at night but that was a very long time ago Laughing

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1163 Location: Campile. Wexford

I first came across them while lamping in a local estate. It sounded anything but a call of a bird. No pauses for breath. I first thought it was some electronic gizmo used by the keeper.
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blowin · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 12:19 am Post subject:

I'm sure that's it then Wink

.
One of the locals has now conceded that it is a bird and is adamat that it is a curlew ! So I wonder what the things with the long beak and plaintive call are .... Rolling Eyes

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1163 Location: Campile. Wexford

Plaintive call is the word for the Curlew. Reminds me of dawn in the Severn estuary. A protected bird now of course but we used to take them for the pot.
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keithrawlins · Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 152 Location: banbridge

the banshee is the curse of the O'neil clan and goes back to the 12 century, To hear the call is to mean someone in the clan will be dead by dawn. but to see one means you will be dead by dawn .only members of the clan can see or hear them so the rest of us are safe Wink

blowin · Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:44 pm Post subject:

Funny how these things go round in circles then resolve themselves in time . Not many total " untruths" but equally few full explanations .
On the subject of the noise made by what the locals call a "Nanny Goat " ( but obviously isn't a 4 legged creature on account of the way it moves around the sky ) --- I had come to believe that it was a Nightjar bird . That is until I saw a film of one on a TV prog . That was a completely different size , shape and flight pattern to the birds I had once seen apparently making this strange loud whirring noise .
Subsequently heard a prog on the radio with a feature on unusual bird courtship calls . It was undoubtedly Snipe . They rise and then create a strumming sound with their wing feathers when they go into a steep fast dive .
And their local name in parts of the uk is " Bog Goat " .
So , there you go Wink

As for the Banshee -- I think that has something to do with sound you hear coming out of the next room when you are waiting at the dentist . Couldn't be much more scary anyway Laughing