BirdWatch’s swan survey

“There’s a lot to tell people,” says Thomas Broe, Secretary of the Cavan Branch of BirdWatch Ireland. Thomas helped conduct a whooper swan survey on sites within the county last January.

“The only whoopers we get are Icelandic birds. They migrate here in one fell swoop. It’s very different from your little songbird who crosses the Sahara in stages and takes a few days to get here. The whoopers come in less than 24 hours,” he explains.

Tom’s passion is infectious as he explains how whooper swans, congregating in much smaller groups here than their counterparts in England, are site loyal often returning to the very same field year in year out.

“The whooper is a great bird to educate people about migration and the importance of wintering grounds here,” he says.

Whoopers offer an insight into Cavan branch’s role. While they are the go-to group if anyone wants to find out about the birds around us, they are also feeding reliable information to experts through such surveys as the Countryside Bird Survey and Irish Wetland Bird Survey (I-WeBS). This whooper data from Cavan ultimately finds its way to the International Swan Group. Experts then interpret the data, establish long-term trends and inform policy makers around protected sites.

The group take this role as “a trusted partner” seriously, not only in working with the general public, but also with conservationists and also with relevant state departments and agencies, such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Branch members also routinely record observations from events like their dawn or dusk chorus walks.

“There’s the whole citizens’ science side of things where you upload records to the National Biodiversity Centre and then the record is there forever,” Thomas says, emphasising how such data can provide vital insights.

The local branch is eager to cater for those with a more casual interest by hosting regular events in County Cavan.

“In the last 12 months we have had talks in Killeshandra, in Cavan Town, in Mullagh, in Belturbet,” he reports. “We try to widen the geographical spread to appeal to a wider audience.”

While they have plenty of achievements to crow about, one shortfall they are eager to address is to improve their social media offering.