Isn't Nature Cruel

This is a young male Peregrine falcon, and he owes his continued existence to my sister.

I noticed him sitting on our fence one morning early in the New Year. The day had not begun well. That morning we had discovered that our water supply was neither exactly legal, nor really illegal. Either way, it was going to cost me cash and heartache.

When our house was built, the original owner (and builder), and not gotten a tap from the county council water main. Instead he had tapped into his parent’s water main up the road. We never knew this when we bought the house - apparently this was pretty common in rural houses built before the 90's. Kerry County council has decided that this is an agricultural water supply, and as they are now metering water supplies and charging for agricultural water usage, it is a big problem. The original owner's mother is going to be charged a hefty fee for supplying us with water because her son couldn't have been arsed to pay a minuscule fee back in the ‘80’s to get a tap into the water main. The supply runs through a field and for some reason this means it is agricultural. We received a letter from the original owner saying that they would have to cut off our supply as the costs were prohibitive. Not good.

Anyhow, I began a round of detective work to figure out what to do, it’s €800 to get a tap into the water main, and then there's the cost to put a pipe up through the property to join our water pipes. It being a small country area, I was quickly put in touch with someone who, among other nixers, is responsible for local water supplies. It turns out the previous owner of our house is not a popular man in the locale. We dug up the driveway over the summer to put in a new one, and it would have been the perfect time to put in a new pipe. Anyhow at this stage we may have to pay for the new water tap, etc., and time will tell what route we next take.

Back to the falcon...while flurrying around, I noticed the bird on the fence, sitting curiously still. He didn't budge even though I was only three feet from him. I went inside and grabbed my mother who adores animals. I knew it was either a hawk or a falcon, and it's a pretty rare occasion you get to see one up close. I didn't have time to linger as I was rushing into Tralee to figure out the water problem. While I was gone, my sister and mother quickly realised that the bird had an injured foot. Unsure of the SPCA number, the called the Gardai.* The following conversation, worthy of a Father Ted episode, ensued:

Sister: “Hello, I was wondering if you could help guide us to the right authorities, we have an injured bird outside our house."

Garda: "A bird, is it?"

Sister: “Yes."

Garda, slowly: "A..bird..an...injured...bird?"

Sister: "Yes, but it’s a large bird, a hawk maybe, it appears to have an injured foot. Maybe you could direct us to the SPCA?"

Garda, in a soft slow voice: "Ohh, sure isn't nature cruel."

The philosophical Garda, true to his word, contacted the Kerry SPCA, and likity-split, they turned up, and captured the bird. They informed my sister that they only knew of one nesting pair on the Dingle Peninsula, and they believed this was their offspring. He had an injured and infected foot, and would need some antibiotics.

Last we heard, Mr. Falcon was well on his way to recovery, and was soon to be the scourge of small birds and rodents the length and breadth of the Dingle Peninsula.

My brother grabbed my camera and captured the proceedings

*Gardai Siochana - Irish police force, translates as Guardians of the Peace.