Wildlife in Ireland

Given the contrasting environment in Ireland its hardly surprising that its home to a host of wildlife including over 380 species of birds and over 30 species of mammals.

The countries craggy coastlines are one of the best areas to see wildlife in Ireland, here you can see birds such as gannets and puffins and a host of mammals. Visitors can enjoy whale watching (minke and humpback) and dolphin spotting (bottlenose and common) as well as seeing the common and grey seals and occasional appearances from leatherback turtles.
Inland the lakes, rivers and wetlands are swarming with geese, ducks and swans with merlin, peregrine falcons and corncrake being some of the unique species of bird found here. The fresh water itself harbours an array of fish such as, eel, pike, salmon, char, pollan and brown trout.

Ireland is also home to the red deer, pine martins, foxes, badgers and squirrels and the native Irish hare and Irish stoat. Some of the best wildlife in Ireland can be seen at the 75 nature reserves around the country or at the National parks at Killarney, Co. Kerry; Glenveagh, Co. Donegal; Connemara, Co. Galway; The Burren, Co. Clare; and the Wicklow Mountains, Co. Wicklow ,all ran by The National Parks and Wildlife Service. Some can also be spotted in the 11 large forst parks and over 400 smaller ones dotted around Ireland. More information on the whereabouts of these can be obtained from the Forest Service in Northern Ireland (www.forestserviceni.gov.uk) or The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (http://www.agriculture.gov.ie).

A number of animals are not present in the country which you may expect. There are no snakes, moles or weasels. The only toad is the natterjack , and the wood mouse is the only small rodent. There is only 1 reptile as well, the common lizard.

More and more visitors are coming to see the wildlife in Ireland and there are now many companies who will organise the holiday for you.