Wildlife

For wildlife lovers, you don’t need to move far from Westcove itself as it brings together an astonishing variety of habitats in just a few acres. The Westcove Estate overlooks a little harbour with views over the magnificent Kenmare Estuary and mountains beyond and is only a couple of miles from the open Atlantic. Westcove sits within small pockets of ancient woodland, an avenue of huge pines, fields, mudflats and a sandy bottomed bay so the range of bird and sea life is unusually rich. All the usual garden birds and the occasional hare can be seen near the house, and on the shore you will see oystercatchers, curlews, great black backed gulls, cormorants, shags and the herons, that usually nest in one of the large old trees. At various times of year you can find large groups of Sandwich terns in the bay, and even wild swans and great northern divers in winter, when you can sometimes catch a glimpse of kingfishers below the house. By early summer, swallows and swifts swoop for insects in the field below the main house and over the bay.