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The Peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on the
planet, reaching top speeds of over 320 km/h. Peregrin Falcon Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay Great South Wall - Ringsend, Dublin 4 Of all the city walks to go on, none is more iconic than the one that will have you pass the Poolbeg chimneys, walk along the Great South Wall to the legendary Poolbeg Lighthouse on the south side of the Liffey. All the better if it’s on a windswept day. Time and tide plays its role on the Wall so that when it’s up you’ll have visiting sandpipers and dunlins roosting like beeping balls of black and white wool on the rocks that buttress the wall along its course. Around this time, too, you’ll be privileged to see a small population of Black Guillemots resting on the wall itself, their striking red legs and mouths contrasting with the black and white of their plumage. The South Wall provides the perfect viewing point for watching the common terns to-ing and fro-ing from the pontoon in the Port waters where they breed in the summer. Oftentimes too, the gannets will fly in very closely, sometimes over your head, and to see them diving at speed head on into the waters of the bay is a stunning feat that will stop you in your tracks. The squeaking of a small community of pipit, stonechat, linnet, goldfinch and pied wagtail will then calm you down again. The Great Wall is a marvellous viewing point in itself but it’s better to view it as just a small part of the birding experience. Take a walk along the coast anywhere from Howth to Dun Laoghaire and you will see some amazing sights - not least the enormous variety of sanderlings, knots, plovers, godwits, redshanks and more who traverse the bay in their hundreds and often thousands, the urgency and balance in their movement so stunning as to be truly chastening. Sanderling A bit of walking required. Nearest buses are C1, C2 and 47 to Ringsend or Sandymount. Head for the coast and begin the walk from Sandymount Strand at Sean Moore Park. Or take the S2 from Baggot Street to Sean Moore Park at Sandymount. Redshank 20