2025 has been another great year on the reserve. We would like to thank all our volunteers, visitors, supporters and followers on social media and wish you all a great Christmas and a happy and wildlife filled 2026! Nollaig Shona

1/2 Jim Wilson was lucky enough to interview Mary Fitzgerald, who was the last surviving member of the family that lived and farmed on Harper's Island not long before she died in January of this year. One of nine children, she was born there in December 1937.

The weather hasn't been great this weekend, so we thought we would brighten things up with a very recent clip of our Kingfisher 'fishing' from the top of one of our Sand Martin nesting banks. Thanks to Jim Wilson for sharing 🙏

A scene from the wetlands at Harper's Island, Glounthane, Cork. @harpersisland.bsky.social many thanks to one of the Harper's Island community who found my phone in the car park. The amount of hassle you saved me from , it is very much appreciated 👍.

1/2 In partnership with the Cork branch of @BirdWatchIE we are delighted to announce the Irish premier of 'Beyond Our Senses' by Emmy award winning producer David Busse, to be screened at Glounthaune Community Hall Thursday night, Dec 4th

A large flock of Golden Plover coming in to land this morning. All almost certainly here from Iceland for the winter. Lovely sounds too as they land. Thanks to our @BirdWatchIE volunteers who have made this Wetland Camera project happen.

Here's clip of a flock of Dunlin coming in to the roost last night. For the next while, high tide will be after bedtime, so while the camera will continue to stream live, we won't turn on the night vision again until we have high tides at a reasonable hour. We will keep u posted ☺️

Here's a clip from our Wetland Cam last night showing lots of Curlew. With a sunny day here today, we have enough power to so that we can turn on the night vision mode on the camera for high tide tonight from 8pm-11pm. Th e link to the camera is in our bio 😊

It's well worth checking in on the cameras right now.. the infrared camera is on, it's high tide and the wetlands are full of birds.. .. 😊 www.youtube.com/live/BpW9fu1...

Yes, agree, it is always a great spot to relax and enjoy some nature. Thanks to all who continue to make Harper’s Island a great space for the birds and us humans too 👍🏻

Great footage, thanks for sharing Colm. Itt was lovely and peaceful down at the wetlands today.

Redshank this morning at Harper’s Island, Cork #birds #redshank #nature

We are delighted to announce our new Wetland Cam. This camera will stream 24/7 live images and sound from out on our wetlands. Please share the link with friends, school teachers and anyone you think might be interested www.youtube.com/channel/UCXj...

1/3 We had another great volunteer morning on the reserve yesterday. The weather gods were kind to us and we got a lot done, including replacing one of our wetland access gates and cutting back some encroaching gorse on the nature trail.

Clearing out old Sand Martin nests from the nesting wall at @harpersisland.bsky.social

Notice - Our opening hours are changing for the winter. From Nov 1st we will be open from 9am - 5pm each day. Oiche Samhain Shona Daoibh go léir 🍂🍁🍂🍁

We had surprise visitors to the reserve today when these Whooper Swans showed up. These swans recently arrived from Iceland & will spend the winter here. Whooper Swans are scarce visitors in Cork Harbour, but large flocks over winter near Fermoy 🙏 to Michael Jones for the pic.

Thanks for sharing Gemma - great footage, poor Sparrowhawk!

Thanks to a loan of a thermal imaging camera over the next few months we will be having a look at what goes on on the reserve after dark. Under the cover of darkness our very healthy Rabbit population was looking very relaxed out in the open near the Scrape Hide.

On Saturday we will be holding our regular monthly volunteer morning on the reserve. We have two hours of work, tasks varying from month to month and something for all abilities, with a tea break in the middle. You don't have to come for the two hours, all help is welcome 🙂

And just like that it's going to be October tomorrow. For the next month we will be open from 9am to 7pm daily.

The Bar-tailed Godwit, one of our special species, is beginning to arrive back to Cork from its summer breeding grounds. Drop down to the reserve to see this beautiful bird for yourself.

Something cute for mid-week 😊 This young Wood Mouse was out exploring next to the nature trail -at the weekend, showing no fear whatsoever of the phone. It is rare to get such a close view of this super little animal. Thanks to @limosawit.bsky.social for sharing!

A reasonably close Little Egret at Harper's Island on Wednesday.

Thanks to everyone who helped out at today's Volunteer Morning. We got a lot done, including waterproofing of the Borrow Dyke Hide, pigeon-proofing the ceiling in our workshop, trimming back brambles & putting the finishing touches to our new viewing area. Our volunteers are the best! meitheal

Thanks to the support of the AA-AGORA fund, we are installing a new viewing stop at the corner between our two hides. Special thanks to the great work of the members of Glounthaune Men's Shed who are constructing this new viewing area and to our BirdWatch members who designed the structure #meitheal

A frequently recorded butterfly at the reserve is the Red Admiral. We are unsure how it got its name, but it may be that the name is a corruption of 'Red Admirable'. This one was photographed on the nature trail.

1/2 Three more horses arrived for their summer holidays today, bringing the herd total to 9. These living lawnmowers keep our dry meadow in optimal condition and an effective check on the invasive saltmarsh species, Spartina anglica.

Another butterfly to look out for on the nature trail is the beautiful Peacock. It gets its name from the false ‘eyes’ on the upper side of its wings, reminiscent of pattern on the tail feathers of the bird with the same name and thought to scare off predators!

Keep an eye out for the Painted Lady butterfly especially on the Buddleja (Butterfly Bush) near the farmhouse gate. This species travels thousands of miles from sub-Saharan Africa to the Arctic Circle and back, with each new generation moving north and south in a butterfly relay race #butterflies

As you walk the nature trail you will pass two wetland habitats we created back in 2019. These are a great place to look for dragonflies & damselflies. This is a female Blue-tailed Damselfly. Unlike the bigger dragonflies, damselflies fold their wings over their backs at rest.

Lots of flyover Water Rail but not on the official @harpersisland.bsky.social list yet….

Detections for late June- late July @harpersisland.bsky.social LRP recorded on 5 dates. Not 100% sure of Barn Owl. Analysis of 124 hours or recording took 40 minutes using @chirpity-nocmig.bsky.social on the computer plus another 40 mins for me so delete errors. Recorded 4 hours per night

Deborah D'Arcy was lucky enough to witness a stoat killing a young rabbit on the nature trail. This may seem harsh but stoats help keep our VERY healthy rabbit population in check. Unlike its cousin the weasel, the stoat is native to Ireland. They will attack prey up to three times their size!

Next Saturday, we are hosting a flower and mini-creature safari in our meadow area with Harper's regular Tom Gittings. If you want to learn all about meadow ecology and the plants and creatures that live there why not join us July 26th, meeting at the farmhouse at 11am.

Thanks for sharing Mark!

1/2 We are sad to report that it appears that 2nd clutch nesting attempts in no's 19 & 21 have failed. Eggs were laid in 21, but have failed to hatch. We think 3 chicks were hatched in 19, but they did not survive beyond a day. We have no idea what has caused this?

Our Stonechats are using their own info post as a perching post... which would be grand... except for the calling cards they leave 🙈. To combat this we have installed, at no expense, a custom-made, one of a kind perch. We hope it will be to their liking and allow us to keep the info post clean😊

Our eco-friendly wetland summer vegetation management team has increased by two! On Friday Eve and Lucky made their introductions to the other members of the team out on the wetland. Looks like it's going well 😊

Almost all our Sand Martins have finished raising their first family & will start a 2nd in the next week or so. Here is a clip of two of the four very hungry chicks in no 21 being fed at the entrance. If they have not taken their first flight already they will do so very soon!

Join us next Saturday for a morning all about our bees. All welcome, children must be with a supervising adult and sorry but dogs are not allowed on the reserve.

With mixed fortunes, our Sand Martins at no 19 successfully fledged two chicks about a week ago, and now after a very short break, they have started their second family. Laying started yesterday and full time incubating will start when the last egg has been laid.

Some people have asked us what is the best way to tell the young from the adults. Look at the feathers arrowed in this image, they are called tertials and are at the base of the wing. Not always easy to see but the young have broad pale edges, the adults do not - easy when you know how!

Thanks for sharing Gemma. Now is a great time to see Sand Martins at Harper's. You can see the nest bank from the Borrow Dyke (1st) Hide. Many of the chicks, including those in Burrow 19 have fledged. We are watching closely to see if we will get a second clutch here over the next week or two.

Here is a link to our live camera stream from one of the nesting burrows at our Sand Martin nest bank. There are five chicks growing fast in this burrow - we think they are about a week away from fledging. You can the action here 👉https://www.youtube.com/live/mHFmGRzpA9s?si=HAmbf5gCpj6mOGO_

@harpersisland.bsky.social a few shots pre reserve— 2004

Yesterday our amazing volunteers made & installed a bird roosting raft on the Borrow Dyke. We hope that this will be used by as a safe place for our wetland birds to rest up. We used oyster cages with insulation board inserts topped with artificial grass and mud.🤞 it will get the seal of approval.