Birds and mammals
WWT Castle Espie is home to the largest collection of ducks, geese and swans in Ireland.
WWT is undertaking conservation work for many of the birds you will see in the collection which wouldn't be possible without the support of our members and visitors.
Some of our birds
Red-breasted goose
The red-breasted goose has suffered a staggering 56% population decline in the last 10 years. The red-breasted goose is globally threatened, and classified as ‘Endangered’. It breeds in Arctic Russia and migrates south and then west to winter around the Black Sea, particularly in Bulgaria, Romania and the Ukraine.
WWT is the lead organisation for the red-breasted goose International Working Group to help protect the future of this species. This includes monitoring the birds at their wintering grounds and the threats they face as well as fitting 25 satellite transmitters to the geese in order to track their movements.
Nene
The Hawaiian goose represents WWT's greatest conservation success story by breeding the birds in captivity and releasing them in the wild, a project supported by WWT members.
An estimated 25,000 Nene’s used to inhabit the Hawaiian islands, but following the arrival of Europeans in 1778 their numbers immediately began to decline. By 1907, the Nene was recognised as a protected species, but this seemed too little too late and only 20 or 30 birds survived by 1949. A major re-introduction programme was launched which saw Sir Peter Scott bring over two of the only remaining Nene’s in the world from Hawaii, then WWT went on to release more than 200 of them back to the wild over the years helping to save the Nene from extinction.
Greenland white-fronted goose
The Greenland white-fronted goose is now one of the rarest geese that visit the UK.
The geese migrate between Scotland and Greenland via Iceland - including an incredible flight up and over the 1.5 mile high ice cap. Surveys by the Greenland White-fronted Goose Study Group have shown that numbers have declined sharply in recent years.