County Limerick

County Limerick is a county in the province of Munster, in the midwest of Ireland. It is named after its county town. Limerick city lies on the River Shannon, with three main crossing points near the city centre. It is the third largest in Ireland, with a population of over 100,000 inhabitants, almost half of the county’s people. Limerick borders four other counties. Kerry to the west, Clare to the north, Tipperary to the east, and Cork to the south.

The River Shannon flows through the city and continues to the estuary where it meets the Atlantic Ocean at the far western end of the county. The estuary itself is shallow and has the county’s most important port, Foynes. Tributaries of the Shannon drainage basin located in the county include the rivers Mulcair, Loobagh, Maigue, Camogue, Morning Star, Deel, and the Feale.

One possible meaning for the county’s name in Irish Luimneach is ‘the flat area’; this description is accurate as the land consists mostly of a fertile limestone plain ringed by mountains. The Slieve Felims lie to the northeast, the Galtees to the southeast, the Ballyhoura Mountains to the south, and the Mullaghareirk Mountains to the southwest and west. The highest point in the county is located in its south-east corner at Galtymore (919 m), which separates Limerick from County Tipperary.

Galtymore Mountain  – ©Kevin Higgins via Wikimedia Commons

The county is not a simply a plain, its topography consists of hills and ridges. The eastern part of the county is part of the Golden Vale, which is well known for dairy produce and consists of rolling low hills. This gives way to very flat land around the centre of the county. Towards the west, the Mullaghareirk Mountains (Mullach an Radhairc in Irish, roughly meaning ‘mountains of the view’ push across the county and west into County Kerry.

Birding County Limerick

Habits of hills and farmland, woods and water across the county attract the usual species, with some more confined, or better represented in those areas least affected by human activity.

Griston bog, near the village of Ballylanders, is one of those endangered types of habitat. Such bogs have their own special microfauna, flora. Here there is a wooden walkway which enables one to traverse the peatland without damaging it. With luck you may encounter wildfowl, waders, passerines and raptors as well as delights like Kingfisher.

The Shannon estuary around Foynes, with its mudflats and wetlands, attracts good numbers of birds, particularly from late autumn to early spring. Flocks of geese, ducks and a variety of waders are on offer, and there’s always the hope of a vagrant turning up.

The river itself, of course, sustains riverine birds and its adjacent woodlands and wetlands can produce Kingfisher along quieter stretches, Dipper in the fast-flowing areas, as well as herons, Grey Wagtail, etc..  For woodland birds, one can do worse than a visit to Curraghchase Forest Park with its woodlands, lake and open parkland. It’s ideal for both woodland or waterside birds. Great Spotted Woodpecker is resident, warblers breed in the summer, and Goldcrest, Treecreeper and tit flocks in the winter.

Curraghchase Forest Park in Autumn – ©Eugene Gogs CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Ballyhoura Mountains on the Cork border feature woodlands, heath and open hills, so is good habitat for upland and woodland birds. Hen Harrier and Merlin are scarce winter visitors, whereas Red Grouse are resident. Cuckoos can be heard calling in the woodlands in spring.

Limerick City itself has a small wetland reserve managed by the local authority. This can be good for egrets and herons year-round, wintering ducks and Snipe with breeding Reed Bunting in the summer and resident Water Rail which can be heard in the spring.