Whooper Swans at Kilcoole Marshes

New year, new blog! Having made the move to Ireland in June 2017 it took us some considerable time to get settled, but we did, eventually, landing up in the seaside town of Greystones in Wicklow. The closest decent birding spot is Kilcoole Marshes, which turns out to be a prime wintering site for flocks of Whooper Swans, nice! There were 39 there today, a pretty decent number.

In addition there was a large flock of wintering Lapwings. Off shore was a Red-throated Diver, some Gannet, Razorbill and a raft of Shag.

The habitat is a coastal marsh, separated from the sea by a shingle beach. The marsh itself is not accessible, so all birding is done from the shingle bank. There are no particular features on the sea-side of the bank to draw birds, but there is regular passage of gulls, sea ducks, divers and other coastal birds. All in all a decent local patch.

ebird list for the day

I haven't seen Whoopers since Dubai, so it was great to find them on my local patch.