Birds of Prey
Owls
Mammals
Sea Mammals

Amphibians / Reptiles
Butterflies
Birds

Peregrine Falcon
Found on the coast and in mountain areas. The female is larger than the male. Adult birds are slate-grey; young birds are brown. The peregrine falcon flies swiftly with strong wing-beats. Food: seabirds, pigeons and crows.

Kestrel
Common all over Ireland. Often seen hovering over fields and at the side of the road. The male has a blue head, blue tail and a reddish brown back with dark spots. The female is larger than the male and has a duller colour. Food: mice, insects

Common Buzzard
Once very rare in Ireland but now increasing. Found in woods with open fields around. Looks like a small eagle. It is brown and the female is larger than the male. Its call is a drawn-out mewing sound. Food: rabbits and carrion (dead animals)

Merlin
A small falcon. Very rare. Found on bogs and hills with trees. Very swift in flight. The male is a bluish-grey, the female and young are dark chocolate. The female is larger than the male. Food: small birds, insects

Barn Owl
Large round head and heart-shaped face. Looks white and ghostly at night but the back is actually golden-buff. Lives in old buildings, church steeples, dead trees. Becoming rare because of accidental poisoning and loss of nesting sites. Hunts by night. Silent flight. Food: mice, young rats.

Long-eared Owl
Very secretive. Found in woods, coppices (small areas with thick bushes and trees) and plantations. Gets its name from the tufts of feathers on its head. Buff colour with dark brown markings. Food: small mammals, insects, birds.

Short-eared Owl
A winter visitor to Ireland. Prefers to hunt by day; often seen patrolling estuaries or bogs. Buff colour with dark markings. Its yellow eyes in a dark surround make it look sinister. Silent flight. Food: voles, mice, insects.

Red Deer
The largest of the three species of deer in Ireland. Found in Donegal, Wicklow, Kerry, Galway. Reddish-brown with a cream rump (tail-end). Male is called a stag; a stag with a twelve-pointed antler is called a "royal stag". Female is called a hind. Young are born in early June. Food: deer are herbivores (plant-eaters), feed on heather, bark, grasses.

Red Fox
Common in Ireland. Even seen in towns and cities. Reddish-brown with white underpants. It has a bushy tail with a white tip. Male is called a dog; female called a vixen. Cubs are born in February or March, usually four to a litter. It is a carnivore and has adapted to scavenging from dustbins and rubbish-tips. Food: rodents, birds, earthworms but also eats berries, nuts, birds' eggs.

Hedgehog
Found all over the country. Easily recognised by its coat of thick spines and short stumpy body, long snout and short legs. Males are called boars: females sows. They breed twice a year. The young, called piglets, are usually born in litters of four. They hibernate in winter months under mounds of leaves in ditches and sheltered places. Food: earthworms, snails, slugs, small mammals

Red Squirrel
A small reddish tree-living animal, found in conifer woods. It has ear tufts and a bushy tail. Fur becomes duller winter. It has two litter of three to four young a year. Foods: vegetable matter, nuts, berries, birds' eggs and young birds.

Rabbit
Introduced into Ireland by the Normans in the 12th century. It lives in grasslands, sand dunes, woodlands. It is smaller than the hare. Sandy-brown in colour; the white underside to its tail can be seen as it runs away. It lives in underground colonies called warrens which have tunnels and chambers. It mostly comes out at night. It breeds between January and June; up to eight young are born a month after mating. Food: it is an herbivore (plant-eater). Eats many kinds of plants.

Field Mouse
Most common of our mammals. Sometimes called the wood mouse or long-tailed mouse. Found in fields, grasslands, woods, hedges. Has golden-brown fur with white underparts. It burrows into the soil where large colonies live together. Breeds from March and usually has two litters of five young which can themselves breed in a few weeks. Food: nuts, buds, berries, roots, cereals, insects, snails.

Bottled-nosed Dolphin
Common near the coast. Grey, with a streamlined shape. Swim in groups called pods. They are very curious and unafraid of humans, allowing people to swim and play with them. The young are born twelve months after breeding and are weaned (stop drinking their mother's milk) after two years. They use echo-location to find their prey. Echo-location is the bouncing of sound off an object. Food: mullet, ray, eels, shrimps, crabs.

Grey Seal
Found all around Ireland's coastline. They spend most of their lives at sea and breed in colonies called rockeries on small rocky islands. A single pup is born to each mother during September or October. The pups have a white coat which they shed after three weeks. They are fully mature after six years. Food: fish, crabs.

Common Seal
Also called harbour seals. Less common than grey seals. Found near the coast and in estuaries. Some even travel up rivers. Smaller than the grey seal with a shorter muzzle which gives them a cat-like expression. From the front the nostrils from a "V" shape. Pups are born in midsummer and have dark coats at birth. Food: fish, molluscs, crustaceans (shellfish)

Killer Whale
Sometimes seen from the shore in Ireland. They have a bold pattern of white markings on black and very large, broad, rounded flippers. The male has a large triangular fin at the centre of his back. The female is smaller than the male. Single young are born out at sea. Food: seals, fish.

Frog
Found everywhere in Ireland in ponds, ditches, streams and bogs. Breeds in January and February. Their frogspawn (jelly-like mass of eggs) can be seen in ponds. The young, called tadpoles, develop into frogs during the first year. Frogs can be affected by water pollution. Food: beetles, caterpillars, flies, slugs, snails.

Natterjack Toad
Ireland's only toad. Found in south Kerry and County Wexford. Easily recognised by the yellow stripe that runs down the back of its warty skin and by the way it runs rather than hops. Eggs are laid in long strings in pools. The young tadpoles develop into toadlets. Food: beetles, caterpillars, flies, slugs, snails.

Smooth Newt
Also known as the Common Newt. Ireland's only tailed amphibian. Found all over Ireland but not very common. Breeding takes place from February. Eggs are laid one by one under a leaf. Young are called tadpoles. Food: beetles, caterpillars, flies, slugs, snails.

Common Lizard (Reptile)
Not common but found all over Ireland on cliffs, dunes and bogs. Unlike most reptiles it does not lay eggs. It gives birth to live young in July, sometimes as many as twelve to a litter. It loves the sun and can be seen basking on rocks or bare ground. Food: beetles, caterpillars, slies, slugs, snails.

Small Tortoiseshell
Common in gardens in the summer. It lays its eggs on nettles where the young (caterpillar) are born and feed on the leaves. In winter adult butterflies sometimes enter houses to hibernate in order to survive until the next spring. Food: the nectar of flowers such as the buddleia

Red Admiral
Common in gardens and woodland edges. Very attractive, with red and white stripes on black wings. The female lays her eggs on nettles where the caterpillars feed when hatched. They migrate to Ireland from the continent. Food: the nectar of flowers, ripe fruit in autumn.

Kingfisher
A shy bird of rivers and canals. Blue-green with an electric blue back, rusty orange front and bright red legs. The male has a black bill; the female has a small splash of colour on the lower bill. It sits patiently watching the river for sticklebacks or other small creatures. The nest is a tunnel in the river bank. Eggs are laid in April. Two broods of six are normal. Food: small fish, dragonflies, small aquatic creatures.

Grey Heron
Often called a crane by county people. Found near water. White with dark markings, grey back, yellow bill and legs and a long neck. They nest beside each other in tall trees during the breeding season which starts in February. This is called a heronry. There are usually two or three young in a brood (family of young hatched together). After the breeding season herons move away to the coast. Food: fish, eels, frogs.

Dipper
Found along fast-flowing rivers and streams. Dark chocolate colour with a white bib. The nest of grasses and moss is dome-shaped and often built under a stone bridge. Two broods of four or five young a year. Food: invertebrates (animals without backbones), small fish, tadpoles and other small aquatic (water) creatures.

Swallow (Summer Visitor)
They arrive in springtime from Africa. Dark blue with a reddish forehead and creamy underparts. Slender with long wings and a forked tail. They make a saucer-shaped nest of mud pellets against a beam in a barn or out-building. Four to six white eggs with red spots are laid in May. Two to three broods a year are normal. They return to Africa in late autumn. Food: midges which they catch in flight.

Robin (Common Garden Bird)
Found all over Ireland and on our Christmas cards! Easily recognised by its orange-red breast and light brown plumage (feathers). The nest is made in gardens, hedges and woods. It is made of moss, dried grass and lined with hair. It is usually hidden in ivy. Five to seven whitish eggs with red freckles are laid in March or April. Two broods a year are normal. Food: insects, earthworms, spiders, berries and scraps.