In an idyllic piece of countryside close to the Westmeath/Longford border residents have been urged not to use their local postbox. The reason? A bird is nesting inside.
The tiny postbox attached to a wooden pole overgrown with ivy at Rathaspic, Rathowen, has been the nesting place for a tiny bird, believed to be a yellowhammer, for the past week.
A sign posted on the mailbox bears a brief message: "Bird nesting in letterbox. Please do not use. Many thanks. An Post."
Mr John Tormey, the recently retired postmaster at Rathowen post office, said the notice would come as no surprise to locals. Every year for the past decade a bird nests in the letter box for a few weeks at this time of year. "It certainly can't be the same bird. It must be one of her family," he said.
All around the postbox, on a country road off the N4 between Rathowen and Ballinalack, the only sounds are of birds singing in the trees.
The nest in the postbox first came to light about a decade ago when a postman on his rounds opened the box to collect mail and saw a nest full of eggs. He closed the box and reported the find to Rathowen post office which notified its head office in Mullingar. The postman was instructed to leave the nest alone until the birds had hatched and left.
"From once the sign goes up locals come in here with their letters (into the post office) or hand them to the postman instead of using the postbox," Mr Tormey said. The post office is now run by his daughter Lorraine.
"Nobody has ever disturbed the bird. I have never known the nest to be vandalised. There are other postboxes in the area and it never happened in any of the others that a bird nested. She just took a fancy to this one," he added.
However, the other postboxes have had their fair share of visitors. "We have also had nests of wasps invade postboxes on three occasions and that wasn't as pleasant. They had to be destroyed.
"And we have had invasions of snails in some boxes, which can be a problem. They are junkies for the gum of the stamp. In some cases they peeled off stamps to get the gum and in other cases they practically ate letters overnight or over a weekend to the extent that the address on the letter was indecipherable. We have certainly had more numerous invasions of our letter boxes by snails than by birds."
There are nine old-style green P&T letter boxes in the Rathowen post office catchment area. Two were shut down because they were not being used. "There is a count taken at intervals of the number of items of mail in the box and if in some areas the box is not being used it will be taken out of commission," Mr Tormey said.