Report By Tom Murtagh
A squally westerly breeze with occasional, but all too
short, spells of sunshine greeted Cavan Branch members and some locals of the
area who assembled on the shoreline of Swan Lake, Lough Gowna village, on the
morning of Sunday 22nd January for the Branch’s first outing of
2012.
Swan Lake is situated beside Lough Gowna village in south
west Cavan and is a wildlife sanctuary providing refuge for a number of duck
species during the shooting season on the nearby Lough Gowna lake system. On
this visit, Mallard was the predominant species present (c.250+) with smaller
number of Wigeon.
Teal, Shoveler and Tufted Duck were also present in small numbers as was a
solitary Great Crested Grebe, a Great Black Backed Gull, a pair of Mute Swans
and some Moorhen. The ducks were concentrated on the northern shore of the lake
and best views were obtained through the scopes. The lake is a great natural
amenity for the village and easily viewed from the Granard Road.
After viewing Swan Lake, some members proceeded to do a
quick tour of the Lough Gowna lake system, with good views of the lake from
Dernaferst Bridge, Aghakine Road and Erne Head (the latter two locations being
in Co. Longford). Lough Gowna itself lies on the Cavan Longford border and is
surrounded by a mixture of farmland, coniferous and deciduous woodland, with
some reed bed cover and a few islands, the largest being Inchmore Island at the
southern end of the lake. Viewing of the lake is well served from a network of
local roads with a number of public access points, and some good roadside
viewing where a scope comes in handy. On
our visit, we spotted small parties of
Goldeneye (with some displaying males) and Wigeon at Aghakine Point on the west
side of the lake, a Kestrel hunting over Woodville Forest and, at Inchmore
Island (Culray), a small flock of Curlew, some Coot along with Great Crested
and Little Grebes, Tufted Duck and a pair of Mute Swans.
The Lough Gowna/Swan Lake catchment area has a good
diversity of habitat – farmland, bog, woodland etc. with a number of well-developed
public walks and pathways which make for an interesting area for exploration
from a bird watching perspective in any season.
This was the first winter outing by the Cavan Branch to this area and
all agreed was an enjoyable and worthwhile venture, despite the sometimes
inclement weather conditions on the day.
For further information on birding in the Lough Gowna area
see:
Birds in County Cavan – JK Lovatt (2006),
Finding Birds in Ireland – Eric Dempsey & Michael O’Cleary (2007)
Ireland’s Wetlands and their Waterbirds: Status and Distribution – Olivia
Crowe/Birdwatch Ireland (2005)
