Burren Fauna Birds

Burren Birds
The Burren, though not renowned for its bird life, would be one of the best places in Ireland to hear the cuckoo, testament to the deceptive wealth of the region’s bird life which includes seven species listed in Annex 1 of the European Birds Directive. In total, over 100 species of breeding birds were identified in a recent survey of the Burren and Aran islands, amounting to over 70% of the national total. These include skylarks, best known for their wonderful song, peregrine falcons, those birds of prey par excellence, wonderful soaring ravens with their throaty calls, and Brent Geese who travel across the Atlantic every year to visit our shores.
In pockets of scrub, the chaffinch, song thrush, wren, robin, dunnock, yellowhammer and blackbird are commonly found nesting. Meadow pipits and wheatears are characteristic breeders on limestone pavement-grassland-scrub mosaics, while turloughs attract considerable winter populations of widgeon, teal and shoveler ducks, as well as whooper swans, golden plovers, and lapwings. Among the spectacular birds of prey, the sparrowhawk, kestrel, peregrine falcon, hen harrier and merlin are found in the Burren.

The unique habitats of the Burren – unfertilized, species-rich grasslands, scattered pockets of scrub and woodland, sheer cliff faces, extensive winter wetlands and ocean frontage - provide the ideal balance of habitats for the feeding and nesting activities of many species. Though species such as the corncrake and grey partridge no longer survive in the Burren, it remains a location of great attraction for Irish and international birders or ‘twitchers’.

For more information on the birds of the Burren, see ‘An Atlas of Breeding Birds of the Burren and the Aran Islands’ by Dr. Liam Lysaght, available from Birdwatch Ireland.