Mute Swan  Cygnus olor

Common breeding resident.

Bewick’s Swan  Cygnus bewickii

Scarce & irregular winter-visitor, but previously regular in winter.

Whooper Swan  Cygnus cygnus

Common winter-visitor; rare in summer.

Several hybrid Whooper x Mute Swans, of unknown origin, have been recorded in recent years:

Bean Goose  Anser brachyrhynchus

Rare winter-visitor: one record.

2003:    One, Kinsalebeg, 20 November.^!

The same bird was also seen on the Co Cork side of the River Blackwater, along the Tourig River, on 15 December 2003.

Pink-footed Goose  Anser brachyrhynchus

Scarce but now regular winter-visitor.

First recorded in 1981, at Whiting Bay on 12 October.

White-fronted Goose  Anser albifrons

Scarce passage-migrant & winter-visitor.

Greylag Goose  Anser anser

Common but localized winter-visitor.

Fields “near Coolfin” were noted as “a regular haunt” in the Irish Bird Report for 1964, and annual or near-annual winter counts have been available since 1963/64. These indicate a marked rise in annual population peaks from under 1000 in the 1960s to almost 600 in 1981/82. Peak counts exceeded 500 in at least 11 of the next 17 winters (up to 1999/2000), and reached an all-time high of 684 on 12 February 1999. Subsequently, numbers appear to have declined substantially, with peaks of the order of 300 birds from 2004/05 to 2006/07. 

Snow Goose  Anser caerulescens

Vagrant: one confirmed record.

1972:    Two (phase?), Tramore Backstrand, 21 October.

The Irish Bird Report for 1972 noted that the “possibility [these] birds were escaped cannot be overlooked.”  However, wild Snow Geese winter annually at the Wexford Wildfowl reserve, thus it is possible that the Tramore birds were also from a wild population.

There were also an unconfirmed report of a Snow Goose with the Greylag Geese at Coolfin in the 1970s or 1980s, but further details are not available.

Canada Goose  Branta canadensis

Rare winter-visitor, most likely involving feral birds.

1996:    One, Tallow, 14 December, considered at the time to be of “uncertain origin.”

The species has also been recorded at Kilmeaden Pools and Dungarvan, most likely wanderers from feral populations in Co Cork or elsewhere in Ireland.

Barnacle Goose  Branta leucopsis

Scarce winter-visitor.

Brent Goose  Branta bernicla

Common winter-visitor (suspecies hrota), rare but annual winter-visitor (subspecies bernicla and nigricans)