Cabragh Wetlands: The story of the Shoveler

The Shoveler gets its name from its broad, over-sized bill, which it uses to filter food, such as invertebrates and plant material, from the surface of lakes and ponds.

The male is brightly coloured, with a white breast, rust on the flanks and a dark green head. The female is more muted with mottled brown plumage. Both species show a pale blue patch in the wing when in flight.

They are mostly winter visitors to Ireland from Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. They move south in the winter to find ice-free conditions. There is a record of a Shoveler that was shot near Thurles in December 1963 that had been ringed the previous June in Estonia. That is a movement of over 2,000 kilometres. The population of Shoveler in Ireland in winter is estimated at 2,020. So if 20 Shoveler regularly occur at a site, then that site is regarded as Nationally Important.

There is a very small breeding population in Ireland. A female with small chicks was seen on a small lake in Littleton Bog in the summer of 2018.

Cabragh Wetlands was a Nationally Important site for Shoveler wintering in Ireland. There were regular counts of over 40 and as high as 78 birds in the past. These numbers have dropped in recent years and the average count now is only 9 birds. (There were 19 Shoveler at Cabragh in early January 2022). You might think that the decline in numbers is due to a deterioration in the quality of the habitat at Cabragh. This does not seem to be the case.

This seems to be a case of ‘short-stooping’ where wildfowl are not travelling as far south and west as they used to. With milder winters due to climate change, these filter feeders can find ice-free water further north than they usually did. So the impacts of Climate Change can be seen in Cabragh.

These changes have huge implications for conservation plans in this part of the world. In severe cold weather, wild birds from all over Europe instinctively move south and west to find milder conditions. While the numbers of some of our wintering wildfowl might be lower right now, refuges such as Cabragh must be available if the is a severe cold snap on the continent.

The situation gets complicated because all species are not in the same boat. For instance, the Bewick’s Swan breeds in Siberia and used to come to Tipperary in good numbers every winter. Over the past twenty years they stopped coming to Ireland and it was assumed that this was simply ‘short-stopping’. But international surveys have shown that the population of Bewick’s Swan is in real decline. A close relative, the Whooper Swan is actually increasing and they use Cabragh from time to time.

In the end, wetlands are vital for the survival of so many species. We must protect them so that they can act as a buffer against the impacts of Climate Change. And we must continue to monitor these species to try to understand what is happening to our wildlife, not just a Cabragh, but at an international level.