If one were to ask the average field ornithologist or birder about Co. Cork, they would most likely know of the county as an important wintering area for many wetland birds, with ‘Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit’ Limosa limosa islandica particularly iconic, or those with an interest in vagrants may have their thoughts turn to Cape Clear Island, Dursey Island or Ballycotton, or the sometimes impressive seabird passage. Regardless of what comes to mind, however, it may come as a surprise that such a rich area ornithologically has never had a county avifauna. In part, this is due to the regrettably small number of observers in Ireland as a whole, but it may also be that the size of the task has seemed daunting.
The idea of a ‘Birds of County Cork’ has been ticking away in the background for some time and, aided by the extra free time afforded by various Covid-19 lockdowns, the authors were finally able to bring this ambitious project to fruition. After a dedication to the much missed Clive D. Hutchinson, and a foreword by eminent Cork ornithologist and birdwatcher Tom Kelly, a series of introductory chapters deal with topics such as the environment of the county, a history of local ornithology and ornithologists, an overview of research and monitoring and recent changes in status. Even for locally based readers, there is much information to be gleaned from these. For instance, while I knew that the increase in breeding Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla in Ireland between the two most recent Bird Atlas projects was dramatic, it really was sobering to find out that the species was first proven to breed in Co. Cork as recently as the 1960s, so ubiquitous is it nowadays.
Sadly, a lot of recent changes to the county’s avifauna have been less positive, and the authors do not shy away from detailing these, with declines in farmland birds, species associated with upland areas and wintering wildfowl particularly standing out, and the local extinction of, for example, Red Grouse Lagopus lagopus seeming likely. On the other hand, as well as the aforementioned Blackcap, recent decades have seen colonisation by species including Common Buzzard Buteo buteo, Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus and Little Egret Egretta garzetta, and a huge increase in the number of Mediterranean Gulls Ichthyaetus melanocephalus visiting the county.
The bulk of the book is made up of a systematic list of species recorded in the county, with 427 species recorded up to the end of 2018. An additional six species seen up to 1st October 2021 are mentioned, though it is made clear that these records are still pending acceptance by the Irish Rare Birds Committee. The taxonomy effectively follows that of the IOC, though the sequence used is the more ‘familiar’ one used by Parkin and Knox in The Status of Birds in Britain and Ireland (2009, Helm). The data given for each species varies from a line or two for some of the rarest vagrants to more substantial write-ups for the more regular species, or species which were formerly regular (such as Woodlark Lullula arborea), and the text is livened up by the inclusion of various tables and graphs. It is clear that no stone was left unturned in terms of research; for example, the authors have dug out a previously unpublished record of a male Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina shot in 1977, which had been ringed in Spain two years previously.
There are various illustrations throughout the book by Russ Heselden, a former resident of the county, including the beautiful front-cover painting of a Common Whitethroat Curruca communis, and further visual appeal is granted by various photographs by Richard T. Mills, long associated with capturing the county’s birds on film. The authors must be commended on an impressive magnum opus, which is clearly destined to remain the authoritative word on the county’s birds for some time, and I can heartily recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the avifauna of Ireland’s largest county.
Harry Hussey