The horses, our lean green wetland mowing machines, are well looked after. Apart from our volunteers keeping an eye on them almost every day, they get a pedicure every six weeks or so. Yesterday morning, our master farrier was on hand to do just that and the horses seemed very happy to have it done.

Recent visitors to the reserve will have noticed the rapid progress of the work by artist Peter Martin on our new mural as you enter the site. Peter hopes to have it finished in the next few weeks. We managed to film and interview Peter recently about the mural and the process involved 👇

Thanks to @Corkcoco & a grant from Creative Ireland, artist Peter Martin has started work on a mural which will cover our entrance walls. Peter won the open competition with his beautiful design depicting the four seasons on the reserve. We can't wait to see the finished work!

We held our first BioBlitz on 21/22 May, the aim of which was to try to identify as many species in a 24 hour period as we could. The weather was not kind but you will be surprised to find out the number of species we did manage to identify. 🙏 to all those who made it possible!

The Little Gull at Harper's Island Wetlands, Cork today - a scarce passage migrant to these parts. #Birds #BirdsSeenIn2026 @harpersisland.bsky.social

To celebrate #nationalbiodiversityweek Week, and as part of our 24 hour BioBlitz, we have organised a Bat Walk for Thurs evening 21st and a Guide in the Hide session for Fri 22nd. Booking is essential for the Bat Walk, details👇C'mon down. We would love to see you ☺️

Help Needed!! We are looking for ecologists and other wildlife specialists to help us out with our first ever BioBlitz which runs from Thurs 21-Friday 22nd May. For more info, see here 👇

Pleased to see that my pollinator sign has now been installed at Roches Point. It provides information about the impressive diversity of bees and other pollinators that occur here, and the habitats that they depend on. Text and photos by me, with layout design by Jim Wilson

A pair of Common Tern has recently been seen displaying on our newly created island in the Borrow Dyke. Cork Harbour supports an important breeding population of this species, & it looks like we may have given them one more breeding location option 😊 #builditandtheywillcome

Our egg laying is a bit behind schedule this year, there has been lots of scrapping for burrows. Things seem to have settled down and we have two fine nests built.. we just need some eggs! We will keep you posted. Links to live feeds are 👆

With Summer officially here you will be glad to know that our opening times will be 7am - 9pm until the end of August.

1/4 Yesterday morning we were treated to a truly fascinating presentation on, and hands on exploration of, the stratigraphy (study of sediment layers) of our wetlands.

Morning. Just a reminder that we will have Emeritus Professor Robert Devoy on site tomorrow morning at 10 am to talk about the geology of Cork Harbour. All welcome. Meet at the Scrape Hide.

1/3 WORLD FIRST! (probably) - On Monday we witnessed a fight in burrow 21 involving three birds that lasted over 12 minutes! We think it may have been a male trying to oust the male of the pair already occupying the burrow.

Coming up this Saturday 25th April at 10 am 👇meet at the Scrape Hide on the Nature Trail!!

For today's #BirdOfTheDay alt theme #Waders some black-tailed godwit in their breeding plumage and some shelduck on the wetlands at Harper's Island, Cork. #birds #godwit #shelduck #nature #photography #ECK @harpersisland.bsky.social

The Harper's Island horses enjoying the freedom to play while doing great work for the wetland habitat. #horses #nature #photography @harpersisland.bsky.social

To protect the health of birds at Harpers, we kindly ask you not to scatter bird seed or feed wildlife. Introducing food can disrupt sensitive habitats, harm birds and attract pests. Wildlife at Harpers is best supported by leaving nature as you find it. Thanks all 🙏

Here's a nice clip from our live stream of Sand Martin burrow 19 this am. They are visiting the nest chamber in the the mornings, spending some time snoozing, preening each other and having some serious sounding chats 🤗 🔗 to live cameras are pinned 👆

Here are links to our livestream cameras at the Sand Martin nest banks 😊👇 Nest Bank Outside View: www.youtube.com/live/-cHzSA1... Inside Burrow No 19: www.youtube.com/live/QeTzxrH... Inside Burtow No 21: www.youtube.com/live/9GQR83c...

Sand Martins, Co.Cork, Ireland.

Early morning can be the busiest time for our Sand Martins, and with the reserve now open at 7am, why not get some medicine for the mind and drop down to the Borrow Dyke Hide and just sit, watch and listen to the birds, even for a few minutes!

Our opening hours are changing. From tomorrow, April 1st, we will be open between 7am - 8pm 😊 #grandstretch

1/2 We had great views of a Redshank preening right in front of our Wetland-cam this morning. Our wetland birds are preparing for the breeding season, changing into their summer plumage and getting ready to depart to their breeding territories. See 👇for camera link.

Our Sand Martin's are back in big numbers this am and very active at the nesting banks. This video shows the view from our outside camera this morning and our first visit to burrow 19 by a returning bird! You can check out our Sand Martin nestcams 24/7 on our YouTube channels!

A mallard couple @harpersisland.bsky.social #BirdOfTheDay #Reflections #nature #birds #harpersisland #wetlands #cork

The evenings are stretching out and our opening hours have changed. The gate will close at 7pm from this evening. Please note that it is STRICTLY not permitted for anyone to be on site after closing time.

Thanks folks.. we agree 🥰

Have you been to @harpersisland.bsky.social yet? You should. #cork

The best time to see wetland birds is about one hour either side of high tide and the higher the high tide the better. Our 2026 Guide to the the best high tides during opening hours is now available to download from our website via 👉: birdwatchcork.com/wp-content/u...

Well done Derek Mooney and Niall Hatch Jim Wilson Declan Murphy Camerman Dónal Glackin for this super programme on wintering wetland birds at @harpersisland.bsky.social in Cork. Link to listen / watch www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2D8fIQUldI 👏🙏🦆 @rteradio1.bsky.social

TURN UP THE VOLUME! Curlews at roost last night on the reserve in dead calm conditions, and like this one, often very close to the camera. The sounds are incredible. Tonight just about now is a good time to check out the live stream ☺️

Thanks to the long sunny days we are able to turn on the infrared on our Wetland Cam at night. Here is part of a flock of over 200 Dunlin roosting right under the camera last night. Looking like a wallpaper pattern, almost all facing into what wind was there. The link to the camera is in our bio.

Don't forget that there we will be a special programme, which was made at the reserve, broadcast on RTE Radio 1 this afternoon at 3pm. You can also watch a version on YouTube 👉via : youtu.be/e2D8fIQUldI?...

1/3 To get the New Year off to a wildlife start why not join Derek Mooney and the team here on the reserve for a close-up look at the remarkable world of wintering wetland birds.

Here is four hours of video taken on the 27th squeezed into 15 seconds, showing the birds piling into the wetland to rest when the tide covers their feeding places as it rises, and leaving again as it drops and their feeding places become exposed again.

This clip was taken from our wetland cam at 10am (high tide) this am, which is the best time to see wetland birds. Just add an hour each day, to get the high tide time so that you can check out all the action. There should be high no's of birds there up to an hour either side of the high tide.

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