DAY OUT: Upper Lough Erne, County Fermanagh
Flying for Fermanagh
As autumn sweeps across Northern Ireland’s Lakeland, whooper swans soar in from their breeding grounds in Iceland. For a chance of sighting these elegant birds, head to Upper Lough Erne, says Danny Graham
Almost a third of County Fermanagh is underwater, vast networks of crinkle-shored loughs and braided rivers that shift water slowly northwest towards the Atlantic.
Trees and reeds line almost every part of Lough Erne’s shoreline, and the onset of autumn sees their palette swing from green to blonde, then 100 shades of brown. You could come here for the colours alone, but perhaps more alluring still is the arrival of overwintering birds.
Fermanagh’s lough network is one of the last strongholds of breeding waders in the country, with the lowland wet grassland that edges the water offering an attractive refuge for curlews, lapwings and snipe. Yet the highlight is surely the whooper swans, honking their arrival from Iceland in attractive wedge-shaped skeins. Crom, on the banks of Upper Lough Erne, is a good spot for birdwatching. Check the latest sightings on the National Trust board then head out on the Wildlife Walk in search of life.
Outdoors editor Danny Graham loves wildlife spotting in autumn.