You can find a birding spot by its number on our overview map. . .

9 - Wicklow Mountains, Co. Wicklow

Upland birds include peregrine, Merlin, ring ouzel and red grouse; wood warblers in the glens in May, and occasional redstarts; siskins and redpolls in the conifer woods.

10 - Wexford Harbour and Slobs, Co. Wexford (Part Nature Reserve)

In summer, the shallow harbor is a good place to see feeding terns. In winter, the Slobs—reclaimed land—attract spectacular numbers (up to 10,000) of Greenland white-fronted geese, the highest concentration in the world. Among them, very often, are a few pink-footed, Canada, barnacle greylag and snow geese. Twenty-eight species of duck have been recorded on and around the Slobs, including rarities such as black duck and blue-winged teal, and a dozen kinds of wader can be seen on an average winter day. The North Slob is a joint Office of Public Works Irish Wildbird Conservancy Reserve with a visitor center with observation tower signposted from Wexford on R741.

11 - Lady's Island and Tacumshin Lakes, Co. Wexford

These brackish lagoons beside the sea, are important for breeding terns, wintering ducks and swans. At Tacumshin, vagrant waders in autumn often include rarities. Lady's Island is a Special Protection Area.

12 - Saltee Islands, Co. Wexford

These two uninhabited islands a few kilometers south of Kilmore Quay, are accessible by fishing boat in calm weather. Great Saltee has a huge summer concentration of nesting seabirds, including guillemots, puffins and gannets, and great numbers of migrant passerines in spring (April to mid-May). Leaflet available from Irish Wildbird Conservancy.

13 - Hook Head, Co. Wexford

This long promontory offers the best sea-watching on the south-east coast, especially in south-westerly gales. Migrants in spring and autumn may include rarities such as firecrest, woodchat, shrike and icterine warbler.

14 - Tramore Bay and Dungarven Bay, Co. Waterford

Tramore backstrand has big winter flocks of brent geese, wigeon and grey plover; Dungarvan adds a good variety of waders, with the chance of American vagrants in autumn.

15 - Ballycotton, Co. Cork

Beach and marshes beside this small fishing village have produced remarkable rarities among autumn passage waders and other vagrants, including spoonbills, little egrets and avocets.

16 - Old Head of Kinsale, Co. Cork

This rugged headland with seabirds and choughs nesting in summer, is better known for sea watching (ideally in strong south-westerly winds and mist) in spring and autumn; great and sooty shearwaters, great, pomarine and arctic skuas.

17 - Cape Clear Island, Co. Cork

Ten kilometers by ferry from Baltimore, this island has had an observatory for thirty years, increasingly famous for its record of seabird movements (particularly shearwaters and skuas) and rare passerine migrants.

18 - Kilcolman Wildfowl Refuge, Co. Cork

This attractive limestone marsh near Buttevant in North Cork has wintering ducks and whooper swans. Privately owned. Contact in advance.

19 - Dursey Island and Bull Rock, Co. Cork

There is a cable car link from Dursey Sound to Dursey Island, which is good for seawatching and migrants in autumn. In summer, breeding seabirds include about 1,500 pairs of gannets on Bull Rock (not accessible to visitors).

20 - The Skelligs, Co. Kerry

The Skelligs, a National Nature Reserve, can be reached by regular boat service from Portmagee or other mainland harbors. These sheer Atlantic rocks have enormous seabird colonies and dramatic ruins of monastic settlements. The Little Skellig, an Irish Wildbird Conservancy Reserve (no landing without a permit) has some 20,000 pairs of breeding gannets, one of the largest colonies in the world. Great Skellig is honeycombed with burrows, used by thousands of puffins and shearwaters.

21 - Puffin Island, Co. Kerry

This is an important haunt of puffins and Manx shearwaters. It is an Irish Wildbird Conservancy Reserve, a National Nature Reserve and a visiting permit from them is required. Good views may be obtained from boats travelling to the Skelligs.

22 - Akeragh Lough, Co. Kerry

A brackish lagoon behind sand dune,, near Ballyheige, notable for vagrant rarities from North America, dowitchers and pectoral sandpipers almost every autumn.

23 - Shannon and Fergus Estuary

Mudflats in winter attract very large numbers of duck and waders. The best single area is the Fergus estuary on the north shore, with up to 16,000 blacktailed godwits in spring and 33,000 dunlin in winter.

24 - River Shannon

The winter flooding of meadows callows - between Portumna and Athlone provides a paradise for swans, ducks, geese and waders, but reaching them requires a lot of walking. Large flocks may be seen on the Little Brosna River where it joins the Shannon south of Banagher, Co. Offaly.

25 - Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare Refuge for Fauna

These immense and sheer cliffs (230 m) are easily accessible by road and offer excellent summer views of puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes, fulmars and razorbills and also choughs and ravens. A visitor center near the cliffs has a display of mounted seabirds. This is a Refuge for Fauna.

26 - Rahasane Turlough, Nr. Craughwell, Co. Galway

This shallow winter wetland attracts 6,000 ducks and swans, and a large number of waders when water level is suitable.

27 - Lough Corrib, Co. Galway

This is Ireland's second largest lake. In late autumn, huge gatherings of pochard, tufted duck and coot.

28 - Rostaff Lake, Co. Galway

This small busy lake near Headford has an Irish Wildbird Conservancy hide for watching winter duck and white-fronted geese.

29 - Clare Island, Co. Mayo

This is a large, windswept island with breeding choughs, corncrakes and large seabird colonies, especially fulmars on the Northern cliffs. Accessible by boat from Roonagh Quay near Westport.

30 - Downpatrick Head, Co. Mayo

This wild, exposed headland has fulmars nesting on sheer cliffs. Good look-out for autumn seabird migration, kittiwakes and guillemots.

31 - Lissadell, Co. Sligo

This is a National Nature Reserve on Sligo Bay for barnacle geese wintering from Greenland; also brent geese in late autumn at Cummeen Strand on the South side of the bay.

32 - Sheskinmore Lough, Co. Donegal

This is a National Parks and Wildlife Service / Irish Wildbird Conservancy Reserve north of Ardara, with breeding waders in summer and barnacle and white-fronted geese in winter. (Leaflet available from the Irish Wildbird Conservancy).

33 - Refuge for Fauna, Horn Head, Co. Donegal

These awesome sheer cliffs have the largest colony of breeding razorbills in Ireland, also guillemots, kittiwakes, fulmars etc.

34 - Lough Swilly, Co. Donegal

Inch Lough and Blanket Nook have thrilling arrivals of up to 1,500 whooper swans in late autumn, with white-fronted and greylag geese and waders in winter.

35 - Carlingford Lough, Co. Louth

Wintering flocks of brent geese, scaup and other ducks and waders come here; there are roads along the shoreline.

36 - Dundalk Bay, Co. Louth

Theser rich wader sands have up to 20,000 oyster-catchers in autumn, and 7,000 bartailed godwits, with wheeling winter flocks of golden plover, knot and dunlin.

37 - North Bull National Nature Reserve, Co. Dublin

This superb winter sanctuary on the north side of Dublin Bay has probably the highest concentration of wildfowl and waders of any Irish wetland. Hundreds of brent geese graze beside passing traffic; also a great variety of ducks, among them goldeneye, red-breasted merganser, shelduck, pintail and shoveler. Short-eared owls hunt the saltmarsh in winter. There is an interpretative center for visitors.

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