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Wild Blog

Wildife and nature blog featuring an eclectic mix of wildlife, birding and conservation content from Ireland and around the world. Be warned there may be opinions flying around here….

Win a pair of Eschenbach Trophy D binoculars

Eschenbach Trophy D 8x42 ED Binocular Review

Thanks to the folks over at German optics company Eschenbach we’re giving away the pair of Trophy D 8×42 ED binoculars we recently reviewed on the site. Optically excellent, the binoculars are superbly made and feature an intriguing contemporary design packed with high-end features. For your chance to win this superb….

Fin whales to firecrests — wildlife extremes on the Wild Atlantic Way.

firecrest-by-rod-wilson-via-iw-flickr

The wildlife of the West Cork coast never fails in its capacity to surprise and delight me. It doesn’t matter how many times I head out, or how much (or indeed how little) I manage to see, there’s always something that stands out. Even on those rare occasions when I….

Buzzards on patch… what a buzz!

Buzzard pair in West Cork

I’ve always had a soft spot for buzzards. I grew up on the North Wales coast, where buzzards were relatively common. I’d hear their lofty mewling calls as I walked to meet the school bus in the morning, and would watch them soaring overhead in the afternoon as I returned home. They….

Saturday 27 August 2016 is Whale Watch Ireland Day

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) continues it’s annual all-Ireland synchronised whale-watching event in 2016, with this year’s event scheduled for Saturday the 27 August between 2pm and 5pm. Timed to coincide with Heritage Week, the event, supported as always by Inis Cologne, takes place simultaneously at 20 headlands around the Irish….

White tailed eagle: parent feeding chick photo gallery

  On our spring Discover Wildlife Weekend in May I took the group to Glengarrif in Co. Cork to see if we could catch a glimpse of the white-tailed eagle pair that were breeding in the area. We got a bit more than we bargained for — first seeing an adult fly in to….

World class whale watching? Head for Ireland!

Whalewatching in West Cork: Humpback and common Dolphin

I’d had a fantastic day watching all manner of wildlife along the West Cork Coast with guests on one of our custom Discover Wildlife Tours recently. From basking sharks to choughs and jays, wildflowers and butterflies to common dolphins, minke whales, and much more besides… by any measure it had been….

Island Bioblitz — head offshore for a wild weekend!

Island Bioblitz 2016

I’m off to the stunning Cape Clear Island off the coast of West Cork tomorrow to take part in Ireland’s first ever Island Bioblitz. I was a member of the Bioblitz team at Glengarriff Woods Nature Reserve in 2012. It was a fantastic event and a great excuse to take time out and spend….

New TV show explores the wildlife of Ireland’s cities

Urban Wildlife in Ireland

A new TV show produced by Crossing the Line Films and due to air on RTÉ over the coming weeks focuses the spotlight on the wildlife living alongside us in Ireland’s busiest cities. Wild Cities, a four part series that starts on Sunday the 08 May at 6:30 pm on RTÉ One, is set on the….

The Wild Postcard Project: boosting awareness of Ireland’s Biodiversity

A new biodiversity art project aimed at Ireland’s youth is looking to spread the word about Ireland’s amazing wildlife far and wide with postcards. Founders Eileen Diskin and Angela Stevenson explain… A survey several years ago in the UK found that the general public is largely unfamiliar with the term ‘biodiversity’,….

Sharks are back!

Basking Shark by AndrewPower

Great news for wildlife enthusiasts — sharks are back off the Irish coast. Basking sharks, the world’s second largest shark species, return to Irish shores every year around the same times as swallows.  Early sightings of these less well known but much larger harbingers of spring trickled in at the end of March from….

And they’re back! First swallows arrive at IWHQ

First swallow of 2016

Yesterday was a special day. A lone, almost insignificant silhouette transformed the usually hum-drum task of dropping the car in to the garage into a wholly noteworthy enterprise. Elegant, streamlined, forked tail streamers fluttering in the breeze… the profile perched on the telephone wire was unmistakable: my first swallow of 2016. Seeing your first swallow of spring….

“Britain’s” Whales: stunning aerial humpback footage, filmed in Ireland

Humpback whales filmed off the south coast of Ireland last year will feature prominently in a new wildlife documentary to air on UK TV network ITV this coming Good Friday (25/03/2016) at 8pm. The film crew captured spectacular drone footage of humpback whales bubble-net feeding off The Blasket Islands in Co. Kerry in….