The Geese Are Home: Winter Wildlife Walks in Wexford and Dublin Bay
You usually hear them before you see them. You're standing on the sea wall out on the North Slob on a grey November morning, hands deep in your pockets, and from somewhere over Wexford Harbour comes a sound like a crowd of people all chatting at once. Then they come in low over the fields, a long untidy line of geese, and land in the wet grass as if they'd never been away.
They have been away, of course. All summer, in fact, on the far side of the North Atlantic. And now they're back for the winter, which is one of my favourite things about this time of year. With 1 November marking the first day of winter in the old Irish calendar, I thought we'd go and meet them properly: at home in Wexford, and up the road in Dublin Bay.
Why does winter start on 1 November in Ireland?
In the old Irish year, Samhain (SOW-in, rhymes with cow) was the hinge between the bright half and the dark half. The day after Oíche Shamhna, Lá Samhna, was the first day of Geimhreadh (GEV-roo), the Irish winter. The harvest was in and the year turned inward.
Met Éireann will tell you winter starts on 1 December, and they're right too. But I think the geese are firmly on the side of the old calendar, already settled into their winter fields by the start of November.
We wrote about the spookier side of Samhain in Loftus Hall and the Hook. This one is about the quieter side of the turn of the year.
Who are the geese, and where have they come from?
Two kinds of goose make this season special for us, one at each end of the east coast.
In Wexford, it's the Greenland white-fronted goose. They spend the summer breeding in west Greenland and winter in Ireland and Scotland, roughly from October to March. You'll know them by the white patch at the base of the bill and the dark bars across the belly. The Wexford Slobs are one of their most important winter homes. In the spring 2025 count, 2,858 of the 13,303 white-fronts counted in the world were in Wexford, so about one in every five of them.
That number comes with a gentle warning. The 2025 total was the lowest since organised counts began in the early 1980s, after a poor breeding summer in Greenland. So if you go, I think there's something rather special about standing quietly and knowing you're looking at a fair share of a whole population that is having a hard time.
In Dublin, it's the light-bellied brent goose: small, dark and neat, with a little white collar, like it got dressed up for the occasion. Around 30,000 of them fly roughly 3,000km to Ireland each year from the Arctic, staying from about October to April, and over 3,000 have been recorded on North Bull Island alone. They're far more relaxed about people than the white-fronts, and often graze on playing pitches around the north side of the city in midwinter [check].
The Irish word for goose is gé (say "gay"), and geese are géanna [check plural], which I think is a lovely word.
Where can you see the winter geese?
Three we love, two at home in Wexford and one in Dublin Bay. None of them are long, which is just as well, because you'll spend most of your time standing still.
1. Wexford Wildfowl Reserve, North Slob
Free · open daily 9am to 5pm · Eircode Y35 EY89 · gates lock at 5pm
The North Slob was sea and mudflat until 1847, when John Edward Redmond took on the job of walling it off from Wexford Harbour. By 1849 the banks enclosed more than 2,400 acres, and canals, drains and pumps turned it into farmland. It was never planned as a home for geese, but it has become exactly that.
The reserve covers about 200 hectares of it, run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. There's a visitor centre, an 8 metre observation tower and three hides: the Pump House Hide beside the car park (a new one is being built) [check if open], the Robert Jobson Hide over the pond near the centre, and the Pat Walsh Hide out on the sea wall, about a kilometre before you reach the centre. The visitor centre, grounds and the Robert Jobson Hide are wheelchair accessible.
To get there from Wexford town, cross the bridge, drive about 2.9km and turn right at the reserve sign, then follow the narrow lane for 2.5km to the car park. In November the gates close not long before dark, so go early.
2. Raven Wood and the Raven Point, Curracloe
Raven Wood Loop · 4.7km · about 1.5 hours · easy · blue arrows · dogs on a lead
Just across the channel from the Slobs, the Raven is one of our most loved walks. The pinewood was planted to hold the dunes in place, and the loop takes you through dark, needle-soft paths before spilling out onto a long, nearly empty beach. With the geese moving overhead between the Slob fields and the harbour, it's pure heaven.
The trail starts from the Raven Wood car park, about 2.8km from Curracloe village. It's managed by the NPWS as part of the Raven Nature Reserve, so please keep dogs on a lead and stick to the paths.
3. North Bull Island, Dublin Bay
Flat beach and causeway walking · as long or as short as you like · check the tide times before you go
North Bull Island is less than 200 years old, which I find wonderful. It grew out of sand that piled up once the great walls were built to keep Dublin Port clear. Captain Bligh, of the Bounty, surveyed Dublin Bay in 1800 and often gets the credit, though historians say the North Bull Wall wasn't really his design.
Today it's at the heart of the Dublin Bay UNESCO Biosphere, with up to 30,000 waders recorded here in winter alongside the brent geese. Start at the causeway and look out over the lagoons on either side, where the brents gather in big numbers, especially as the tide rises. Then walk out along Dollymount Strand or the Bull Wall, with the Poolbeg Chimneys standing across the bay on the far side.
A few gentle words of care. The saltmarsh and mudflats here are where the birds feed and rest, so stay on the paths, keep dogs on a lead near the marsh edge, and give the seals at the northern end plenty of room. The tide comes in quickly across the flats, so don't wander out onto the sand on a rising tide, and check the tide times before you go. Water Safety Ireland has good advice at watersafety.ie. If you'd rather leave the car at home, Dublin Bus runs to the Wooden Bridge and the causeway [check current routes].
Dublin Bay from the other side
I love that the Poolbeg Chimneys are part of the view from Bull Island. Our very first blog post, back in 2016, was about the Pigeon House, and more recently we told the chimneys' whole story in how two striped towers became Dublin's favourite landmark.
Our Poolbeg Chimneys tee in Dark Heather Blue is the one I'd wear for a winter morning on the bay, under a few warmer layers.
See the Poolbeg Chimneys tee →
What to wear for a morning in a bird hide
Watching geese is mostly standing still, and standing still on a sea wall in November is colder than any hill walk. Dress for the waiting, not the walking.
Start with an organic cotton tee. Ours are 100% organic cotton, hand screen-printed in our Dublin and Wexford studios, certified OEKO-TEX Standard 100 and Fair Wear. Over that, a hoodie that keeps you cosy without overheating on the walk in. The Vitamin Sea hoodie in Aloe is a soft, easy one for the coast.
Then something to keep the wind off, because it comes straight across the Slobs off the harbour. Our Explorer Fleece Jacket is made from 100% premium recycled fleece and sized to go over a sweater.
See the Explorer Fleece Jacket →
And don't forget your feet. Cold toes will send you home from a hide long before the geese do, so wear a good pair of socks under your boots. Our Poolbeg Lighthouse socks are organic cotton and bring a bit of Dublin Bay along with you.
See the Poolbeg Lighthouse socks →
A few other things worth bringing: binoculars if you have them, a flask of tea, a hat, and a little patience. Move quietly near the hides: the white-fronts are wary, and every time a flock goes up they burn energy they need for the winter.
A quiet welcome for the winter
There's something I find very comforting about the geese coming back. The clocks have gone back, the evenings have closed in, and the year has tipped into its dark half, and yet here they are, right on time, carrying on as they always have. If you can, pick a still morning in the first week of November, wrap up well, and go and stand on a sea wall for half an hour.
We'd love to hear where you go to see the winter birds, so tell us your spot. For more walks from home, see our autumn walks, read the story of the Poolbeg Chimneys, or browse our recycled fleece collection.