… & Other Wildlife at Inish Beg

The gardens, orchard and woodland of Inish Beg have been carefully designed to encourage and compliment the many species of birds and wildlife native to the island and those that stop here annually during migration, while providing beatiful and dramatic scenery for walks and bird watching throughout all the seasons of the year — ideal for your bird watching holidays and vacations.In addition to the bird watching available on the estate, we can help arrange bird watching tours of other areas of West Cork and other prime bird watching spots in Southwest Ireland.The climate of Inish Beg is favourable to a wide array of plant species. Kept mild throughout the year by the Gulf Stream, growth is luxuriant.

Carpets of woodland flowers in springtime are follwed by the blossoming of rhododendrons, gorse and fuchsia. Trees and rocks are festooned with ferns, mosses and lichens. The woodlands (circa 50 acres) are comprised mainly of beech, oak, ash, hazel, holly and sycamore, while shorelines are the natural habitat for salt-tolerant grasses, rushes and wild flowers.

Read more about the Gardens & Woodlands of Inish Beg

The Wildlife

During November and December 1997, a bird and wildlife survey of Inish Beg woodlands was conducted by Mike and June Fox, field ornithologists for Birdwatch Ireland in West Cork. The following bird species were identified:

Blackbird Chaffinch Chough Cormorant Tree Creeper Crossbill Hooded Crow Curlew Collared Dove Dunlin Dunnock Little Egret Peregrine Falcon Fieldfare Goldcrest Goldfinch Black Tailed Godwit Greenfinch Greenshank

Common Gull Black Headed Gull Great Black Backed Gull Lesser Black Backed Gull Herring Gull Sparrow Hawk Heron Jackdaw Jay Knot Lapwing Magpie Mallard Barn Owl Long-Eared Owl Oystercatcher Pheasant Wood Pigeon Meadow Pipit Golden Plover Ringed Plover

Raven Redshank Redwing Robin Rook Shelduck Snipe Stonechat Mute Swan Teal Mistle Thrush Song Thrush Blue Tit Coal Tit Great Tit Long-Tailed Tit Grey Wagtail Pied Wagtail Whimbrel Wigeon Woodcock Wren

It is intended to conduct a summer bird survey to identify the visiting migrant species. The following fauna species were also identified in the woodlands and the Estuary shore:

Birdwatching Holidays