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Ireland Saltee Islands Skellig Michael Killibegs - Irish Fishing Fleet Northern Ireland - Giant's Causeway Rathlin Island

Lesser Black-backed Gull photographed on Skellig Michael. This is a very common gull in Europe. Note Herring Gull bill, yellow legs, darker wings and mantle.

Skellig Michael

.The small boat with ten passengers left at 10:30 AM. Getting on the boat was no problem and the trip out took less than an hour. On the way out I saw Gannets, Manx Shearwaters, Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots (murres), but not one Storm-petrel. The islands were covered in fog and this condition persisted during our visit. The monks must have endured many cold, foggy days.

We disembarked onto stone steps with the assistance of the captain and the mate. This was a difficult disembarkation. This trip is not appropriate for anyone with limited mobility. We were to have 4 hours on the island.

The cliffs near the landing were covered with Kittiwake nests. Notice that they nest on very narrow ledges. The cacophony of their calls made it hard to distinguish the three syllables call that gives them their name. We walked about 200 yards to the coast guard jhelicopter landing station and then began to climb the stairs.

The Puffin Steps The monks had 3 sets of stairs to the monastery. The park service has restored one set of 200 steps. The steps are easily climbed, but there are many. The climb to the monastery took me an hour. Climbing is made much easier by the close Puffin experiences. Here a photographer stops for two Puffins standing on the steps. Notice the dense fog which covered the island the whole time we were there.

Puffins prefer to nest in burrows they dig into the ground. Here a Puffins returns to the burrow with a mouth full of Sandeels. How do they catch so many? After climbing for some time you come to the saddle. Take a good rest in this pleasant meadow because while you are almost there, the next 30 or so steps are the steepest.

Finally you come to a level path with a stone cliff on one side. I was startled by the groaning call of a Puffin concealed in its burrow in the rocks that lined the path. Here he ( or she) is peering out at me. Puffins prefer to burrow in soft dirt, but those that fail to get a burrow site will settle for a hole in the rocks.

I am a slow climber and was soon the last in line on the stairs. Eventually passengers on the later boats arrived and passed me too. By the time I reached the monastery, the ranger was giving a long talk on the history of the island. While she was very good, I had heard all of this the day before at the Skellig Experience so I passed up the talk and explored the beehive huts. Beehive huts are not unusual and I saw more on the Dingle Peninsula. What mean existence they must have offered on the cold, dank island.

The monks collected rain water in cisterns, They ate birds and eggs and fished the seas. They traded eggs and skins. They also kept goats which happily have been removed from the island. While I was at the monastery I observed several Fulmars flying past. Gannets do not nest on Skellig Michael, but on adjacent islands.

Killibegs - The Irish Fishing Fleet

On one of my last days in the Irish Republic, I drove out the peninsula to Killibegs the home of the Irish North Atlantic Fishing Fleet. For some reason the fleet was in port and the lack of activity around the boats indicated they were not going out soon. Expensive boats like these do not stay in port unless they are forced. At any rate it was a good chance to see and photograph the state of art of fishing boats.

The technology of fishing has outstripped the ability of the fish to reproduce and fish stocks have declined drastically. These three boats are not a family fishing fleet. This is state of the art corporation fishing. Just beyond these boats were some smaller boats which looked more like the fishing boats I am familiar with from Gloucester. Interestingly one of the stories on the evening news was about small fishermen blaming Gray Seals for the poor fishing. Wake up guys it is not the seals.

This rear shot of one of the big ships shows the superstructure that supports the huge nets up to 26 miles long. Ireland is certainly not the only high-tech fishing country. Iceland, Norway, Japan, and United States are among the large fishing countries. I publish these photographs just because I was there and caught the fleet in port.

I crossed the rope bridge and spent about an hour enjoying the view from the rock which included this pair of Fulmars guarding their nest. There are also Guillemots, Razorbills, and Kittiwakes nesting on the seamount.

Much of Rathlin Island is surrounded by steep cliffs. This photographer is dangerously close to the edge since from where he is standing he cannot see where the drop off really is. Nor do I see why he would take such a risk. He probably did not fall as there was no commotion later.   Just behind this view is a pass in the cliffs where the Kittiwakes streamed through on their way to drink from a fresh water pond. Gulls unlike true seabirds cannot drink seawater.

The Bird Observatory at the lighthouse is open from 11 -3 PM and manned by volunteers. There is a long flight of stairs from the top of the cliff to the lighthouse platform where the volunteers have telescopes set up and give little talks about the birds.

I was able to photograph this pair of the Fulmars nesting close to the lighthouse platform. Notice the precarious position of the bird on the right who is presumably on the nest. I was the only one interested in Fulmars. Others were of course looking for the most popular bird the Puffin. A few Puffins could be seen far below standing on the rocks.  It was not really a good place for Puffins.