A good time to spot our winter visitors

Curlews spotted on foreshore in Ballinskelligs and Rossbeigh — and Courtmacsherry is also a great spot for birdwatching

Curlew at the Timoleague estuary in January, 2023. Picture: Andy Gibson

Now is a great time to see birds that come here each winter, drawn by our relatively mild weather and a shoreline washed by warm Gulf Stream waters.

We get hundreds of thousands of migrant waders, some from as far away as Siberia — though numbers have dropped by around 20% in recent years, according to the Irish Birds report and Birdwatch Ireland.