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Cape Clear Island off the West Cork coast is the second most
south-westerly rock off Ireland after the nearby Fastnet Rock. Boats to
the island, which is only about three miles long and one mile wide, run
from Baltimore. The island is a popular bird watching centre as
thousands of shearwaters, fulmars, gannets and kittiwakes can be seen
flying past its southerly point heading out to fish in the mornings in
July and August and returning at night. Guillemots also nest on the
island.
 The secluded woodland around Glengarriff is home to kingfishers among
other woodland and water birds, and if you take the boat trip to Garinish
Island across the clear, clean, unpolluted waters of Glengarriff
Harbour, you may see cormorants, guillemots, shags, herons, terns,
oyster catchers, black-backed gulls and resident swans. In the summer, the
more regular visitors, the swallows and the swifts who
perform such incredible aerial acrobatics over land and sea, can be seen.
 Dursey Island Bird Sanctuary is an excellent location for watching
migrating birds. Both Great and Arctic Skuas and common Arctic and
Sandwich Terns are regularly recorded passing by in both spring and
Autumn. Very rare autumn and spring migrants from as far apart as the
Americas and Siberia have been recorded here: for example, the North
American Warbler and the North American Ovenbird (second live record for
Europe), the Ross-breasted Grosbeak, the Red-eyed Vireo and the
Olive-backed Pipit and Yellow-browned Warblers from Siberia.
Clear Island
Bird
Watching Ireland
Birds Ireland
Harbour
Queen Ferry
Blue Pool
Ferry
Common and grey seals can often be seen basking in Bantry Bay and on the
rocks around Garinish Island in Glengarriff harbour.
Common seals prefer to feed on fish, both bottom-dwelling and
free-swimming, and some invertebrates in narrow channels near the mouths
of bays. At low tide they haul out onto skerries (rocky islets and
reefs) or sand banks to rest and digest their food. Common seals are
gregarious, preferring to live in groups, probably made up of related
animals. Around Ireland, common seals give birth during June and July.
The single pup, which is able to swim within just a few minutes after
its birth, suckles for between 3-6 weeks.
The grey seal is also a coastal species, though it may forage further
out at sea than the common seal. It is sparsely distributed around
Ireland and widely dispersed outside the breeding season. Grey seals
feed on a wide variety of fish and some invertebrates. Adults congregate
to form herds during the late summer to autumn breeding season. Unlike
common seals, the single grey seal pup is born in white lanugo (natal
coat). Lactation lasts for 2-3 weeks before the mother abandons the pup,
around which time it begins to moult its lanugo. The pup spends another
two weeks or so on land while it moults before entering the sea when it
must learn to forage efficiently before its body fat reserves are
depleted.
Common dolphins and harbour porpoises are resident all year round off
West Cork. Minke whales may be seen from May through to December. Family
groups of fin whales arrive in the early summer months and are resident
through to January. Humpback whales, the great cetacean acrobats, may be
seen during whale watching tours between August and January. Chance
encounters may occur with killer whales (Orcas), bottlenose and Risso's Dolphins
and long finned pilot whales at different times throughout the year.
Whale Watch West Cork Join zoologist and experienced skipper
Nic Slocum who has been diving and sailing for many years and knows the
West Cork coastline and islands intimately.
Sea Kayaking
website
Atlantic Sea Kayaking
website
Sherkin Island
Marine Station is privately run and funded, carrying out
long-term monitoring programmes on the flora and fauna of Roaringwater
Bay and surrounding areas.
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