Read below about some of the birds that live on Irish bogs.
Common Snipe
Common Snipe
Gallinago gallinago
Naoscach
Common Snipe is a medium-sized wader with a long straight bill and relatively short legs. They are brown above with a mix of paler and darker stripes, streaks and speckling and have pale underparts. They are elusive birds and not usually seen unless flushed from the vegetation when they typically let out an alarm call and fly away in a zig-zag pattern. Their diet consists of plant material such as seeds as well as invertebrates like worms. Suitable breeding habitat includes boglands and wet grasslands where they nest on the ground concealed in vegetation. In winter they can be found in a range of wetland habitats. Ireland’s resident population is joined by summer and winter visitors from other countries. During the breeding season, males make a strange bleating sound known as ‘drumming’ with their tail feathers during their display flight. Snipe are a red-listed bird in Ireland due to a severe decline in breeding population, according to the Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland 2020-2026.
Eurasian Curlew
Curlew. Photo: D. Camier
Numenius arquata
Crotach
The Eurasian Curlew is Ireland’s largest wader, with a streaky grey-brown body and a long downwards curved bill. Winter visitors arrive to coasts and wetlands for the winter while suitable breeding habitat includes boglands and rough grasslands. They mainly feed on invertebrates. Their distinctive “cur..lee, curl..lee” call can often be heard on our coasts in the winter, but sadly their iconic bubbling song is not as familiar a sound in the breeding season as it once was. The Curlew is an endangered and red-listed species in Ireland, with an estimated 98% decline in the breeding population since the 1980’s and as few as 105 pairs according to the most recent national breeding survey in 2021. You can download a booklet about Curlew here.
Meadow Pipit
Meadow Pipit. Photo: C. Krieger
Anthus pratensis
Riabhóg Mhóna
The Meadow Pipit is a small brown bird with white underparts and dark streaking. It feeds on invertebrates such as flies and spiders, and sometimes seeds. A ground-nesting bird, it is a widespread breeding species in Ireland, found in habitats such as bogs, uplands and grasslands. Its song flight involves rising up off the ground or a post before parachuting back down. It is a red-listed species in Ireland, and is classified by the IUCN Red List as near threatened on a global scale.
Skylark
Skylark. Photo: F. Doyle
Alauda arvensis
Fuiseog
The Skylark is a brown bird with dark streaking. It looks similar to the slightly smaller Meadow Pipit from which it can be distinguished by its crest, broad white stripe above the eye and chunkier bill. The skylark is famous for its song flight, in which a long stream of warbling notes is delivered from high up in the sky (where it can often be hard to spot!). They feed on a variety of insects and seeds and are ground nesting, breeding in bogs, grasslands, farmland and uplands. The Skylark is an amber listed species in Ireland.
Merlin
Merlin. Photo: F. Doyle
Falco columbarius
Meirliún
The Merlin is Ireland’s smallest bird of prey and has a short hooked bill and narrow wings. Males have blue-grey upperparts with dark outer wings, a broad dark band on their tail and a yellow-orange breast. Females are brown-grey with a barred tail and pale underparts with dark streaking. They are agile in flight, hunt low to the ground and may pursue their prey such as meadow pipits for long periods. Merlins nest on the ground on uplands, bogs and moorlands. They are more common in the West but also found in the midlands and Wicklow mountains. They are more widespread during the winter and may often be seen near the coast. The merlin is amber-listed in Ireland due to declines in breeding range.
Red Grouse
Red Grouse. Photo: F. Doyle
Lagopus lagopus hibernicus
Cearc fhraoigh
The Red Grouse has a reddish-brown, heavy-set rounded body, short tail and small head. The males are darker and redder than the females and have a bright red eyebrow in the breeding season. It is a ground-nesting bird and is not usually seen in flight unless flushed. Red Grouse is found in bogland, upland and moorland and eats mainly heather which it also uses for nesting and shelter. Red Grouse has experienced declines in breeding population and is red listed. There are few now remaining in the midland raised bogs, with good counties for the species being Wicklow, Laois, Waterford and the west of Ireland.