St Ernan's Island, Dungally Strand, County Donegal

From the Ordnance Survey Discovery Series map, it looked like there was a causeway to St Ernan's Island, so I went to investigate.  However on my first attempt there were several large lorries and diggers blocking the way at the end of the road at Dungally Strand, so I had to return later in the day when the workmen had gone home.  However very disappointingly I was faced with an imposing and firmly closed gate at the mainland end of the causeway.  A very large and impressive house was visible at the island end of the causeway and the owners obviously value their privacy.  St Ernan's Island is located 2 miles south of the town of Donegal. 

Causeway to St Ernan's Island

Island 409 - Rinn Raithní 2, County Donegal

I have not been able to find out the name of this island but I'm sure it has one.  For now I will call it Rinn Raithní 2.  It is located opposite Rinn Raithní a mile to the north west of the small town of Burtonport in The Rosses area of County Donegal.  It is uninhabited and is covered in rough grass, heather and rocky outcrops.  Scabious was in flower when I visited in September 2017. The island is accessible on foot at low tide across 400 metres of sandy mud, which was more solid that it looked.  Rinn Raithní 2 is about 200 metres from north to south by 100 metres from east to west.

Island from Rinn Raithní

 

Gap between the island and Rinn Raithní

 

Rinn Raithní from the island

Island 408 - Rinn Raithní, County Donegal

Rinn Raithní is a small tidal island with a cottage on it. It is located a mile to the north west of the small town of Burtonport in The Rosses area of County Donegal.  It is approximately 400 metres from north to south and east to west at its widest points and it is accessible at low tide across 400 metres of sandy mud.  The mud was solid and can obviously be driven over at low tide, as I followed the tracks of a car out to it.  The island is covered in rough grass and heather with some rocky outcrops.

Cottage on Rinn Raithní

Cottage on Rinn Raithní from the neighbouring uninhabited island

 

View from the driveway of the cottage on Rinn Raithní

Island 407 - Oileán Dhiarmada, County Donegal

Oileán Dhiarmada is a small tidal island only about 100 metres in diameter with a small grey bungalow and a static caravan on it.  It is located a mile to the north west of the small town of Burtonport off the west coast of The Rosses area of County Donegal.  It is accessible at low tide across 200 metres of solid sandy mud.  I followed the car tracks, which led to the neighbouring bigger island of Rinn Raithní,  as I am always a bit dubious about how soft mud is.  There was no one at home in the static caravan or the bungalow.  The island is covered in rough grass with patches of heather.

Bungalow on Oileán Dhiarmada

Bungalow and Shed

Static Caravan

Slipway on the mainland from Oileán Dhiarmada

Rinn  Raithní from Oileán Dhiarmada

Oileán Dhiarmada from the mainland

 

Oileán Dhiarmada from the mainland

Island 406 - Inishinny 2, County Donegal

I can't believe that this island doesn't have a name, as it has a substantial sized house on it and the owners must have an address.  However I cannot find a name for it on any of the maps I have looked at, so for now I am going to call it Inishinny 2.  It lies between mainland County Donegal at the scattered settlement of An Chloch Ghlas near Burtonport and the main island of Inishinny.  It is approximately 200 metres from east to west by 150 metres from north to south and can be accessed on foot across 100 metres of golden sand at low tide.

In addition to a large modern house, there is also a static caravan on the island and a small hut by a slipway, which I presume is used for vehicular access onto the island.  When I visited in early September 2017 there didn't seem to be anyone at home at the house or caravan.  The island is covered in rough grass.

House on Inishinny 2

North coast of Inishinny 2

Nice house

Caravan on Inishinny 2

Hut and slipway access for cars at low tide

Gap between the island and Inishinny

Inishinny 2 from Illancarragh

 

Inishinny 2 from the mainland

Island 405 - Inishinny/Inis Sionnaigh, County Donegal

Inishinny (Inis Sionnaigh in Irish) is an uninhabited tidal island located 300 metres to the north of mainland County Donegal at the scattered settlement of An Chloch Ghlas, which is two miles north of the small town of Burtonport.  The island is about 600 metres from east to west by 400 metres from north to south.  The only building on the island is a shelter built of corrugated plastic, which is open at one end.  During my brief visit on a windy day in September 2017, the shelter provided cover for me during a short but sharp rain shower.  The island is obviously visited reasonably regularly, as there are a few paths across the island.  There is plenty of grass but it didn't look as though the island was being grazed regularly.  Parts of Inishinny are covered in heather and thistles, scabious and sea campion were all in flower when I visited in early September. 

Welcome to Inishinny

Back of the shelter and lifebelt

Looking north

Inishinny

Small Beach on Inishinny

Small beach on the eastern side of the island

Shelter and Lifebelt - looking south towards Illancarragh

Island 404 - Illancarragh/An tOileán Carrach, County Donegal

Illancarragh (An tOileán Carrach in Irish) is an small grass covered uninhabited tidal island sandwiched between the larger island of Inishinny to the north and the mainland of County Donegal at An Chloch Ghlas to the south.  An Chloch Ghlas isn't a village as such but more a settlement of scattered houses two miles north of the small town of Burtonport.  Illancarragh is accessible at low tide across about 200 metres of golden sand.  The island is about 200 metres from east to west by 100 metres from north to south.

Illancarragh

House on Inishinny 2

Illancarragh from Inishinny 2

 

Illancarragh

 

Inishinny from the east end of Illancarragh

Island 403 - Fall IslandOileán an Easa/, County Donegal

Fall Island (Oileán an easa in Irish) is a small island linked to The Rosses area of County Donegal two miles north west of the small town of Burtonport at low tide by a beautiful cream coloured sandy beach.  There is one house on the island, which is about 200 metres from north to south by 100 metres from east to west.  The owners of the house obviously drive across the sand at low tide, as there are slipways at both ends.  The island is covered in grass, heather and bracken.

By the mainland slipway there is a memorial stone commemorating the five men who died on 31st October 1981 when their trawler Skifjord hit a reef between Arranmore and Burtonport and sank. Four crewmen survived by swimming to the island of Inishinny.

Road leading to the house on Fall Island

 

Looking back to the mainland from Fall Island

 

Boat on Fall Island

 

Disclaimer notice

 

Fall Island from the mainland

 

Memorial by the slipway down to the beach

 

Fall Island from the mainland

Island 402 - Cloch na Síog, County Donegal

Cloch na Síog is a small unremarkable and uninhabited tidal island, which can be accessed at low tide from the north side of the causeway between Island Roy and mainland Donegal near the town of Carrickart on the Rosguill Peninsula.  There is some very soft looking mud to the east of the island between it and Island Roy but where I crossed to it on the south side was firm with a bit of seaweed.  The island is mainly covered in rough grass with patches of bracken, gorse, brambles (with blackberries on) and a rocky outcrop.  Sea aster, sea lavender, thrift , thistles (the non-prickly types) and scabious were in flower when I visited in early September 2017.  The island is about 150 metres from east to west and 50 metres from north to south.

Looking south east to Island Roy

Rocky Outcrop

North coast at low tide looking east towards Island Roy

Island 401 - Aughnish, County Donegal

Aughnish is a small tidal island two miles to the north east of the town of Ramelton in County Donegal.  It can be accessed at low tide via a causeway.  However once you arrive on the island you cannot explore further, as there is a "No Trespassing" sign at the start of the track up to the island's only farm.  The island is about half a mile from north to south and 500 metres from east to west and its highest point is 25 metres above sea level.  In 2011 the resident population was three people.  That's all I can tell you about the island.

Visitors are not welcome

 

Causeway looking towards mainland Donegal

 

This was all I could see of the island without trespassing

 

Salt marsh on the eastern side of the causeway

 

Tree roots and the causeway looking towards Aughnish

 

Aughnish from mainland County Donegal

Island 400 - Coney Island/Inishmulclohy, County Sligo

My 400th island!  When I started this blog, I never thought that there were 400 islands you can visit around the coasts of Britain and Ireland but now I realise that there are probably at least 500.

Coney Island or Inishmulclohy is a tidal island off the coast of County Sligo and close to the seaside town of Strandhill.  Coney is an old name for a rabbit and the island was so called because of the large population of rabbits that lived there.  They may still live there but they were all hiding when I visited on an overcast day in early September 2017.  The only mammals I saw were a dog, a field of cows and three donkeys.  Coney Island is low lying and approximately 1.25 miles from north to south and 1 mile from east to west at its widest point.

Access to Coney Island is down a narrow lane off the R292 half way between Sligo and Strandhill.  There is space to park about 8 cars at the end of the tarmac road.  It is possible to drive across the sand to Coney Island and a couple of cars made the crossing while I was walking back from the island.  While I wouldn't recommend driving across, you can't get lost, as there are 14 large stone marker posts at regular intervals marking the recommended route across Dorrins Strand, which is about 1.25 miles long. 

I arrived at the crossing point about two and a half hours before low tide but there were still lots of pools of ankle deep water covering the strand.  There is large noticeboard at the start of the crossing point, which warns of the dangers of the incoming tide.  It also gives numbers, which you can text from UK or Republic of Ireland mobiles and you get a quick automatic reply, which tells you the safe crossing times for that day.  I crossed to Coney Island wearing a pair of plastic crocs and carrying my walking boots.  By the time I returned from Coney Island to the mainland it was approaching low tide and I was able to do the crossing in walking boots without getting wet feet.

There are several Coney Islands off Ireland but this is supposedly the one after which the Coney Island in the borough of Brooklyn in New York is named.  The story is that Captain Peter O'Connor, who was master of the schooner Arethusa, sailed between Sligo and New York in the late 18th or early 19th centuries and on seeing the island off Brooklyn it reminded him of Sligo's Coney Island, so he named it after it.  The New York Coney Island is a seaside resort famous for its amusement parks.  Coney Island in County Sligo has one pub (closed when I visited on a Wednesday morning) and about a dozen cottages.  There is also a ruined farmhouse and a ruined school.  In 2011 the residential population of the island was 2 (down from 6 in 2006 and 124 in 1841), so presumably the other houses are all holiday homes.

Once on Coney Island you can follow the road north to the village and then along the north coast to the west coast.  There is also a track from the village direct to the sandy bay on the west side of the island.  I didn't walk as far round as the beach on the west side but I did walk to the west coast to look for some fossils on the beach.  Thanks to my GPS and the setter of a geocaching earthcache I found the fossils easily and they are remarkably clear.  I have not been able to find out what they are yet but they are the best fossils I have ever seen in situ on a beach - see photos below.  There were plenty of juicy blackberries to eat in the island's hedgerows. 

There are information boards at various locations around the village identifying wild flowers and sea creatures to be found on Coney Island and in the rock pools on its beaches.  There is also a map of the island showing places of interest.  One of the places marked is St Patrick's Wishing Chair.  However the map wasn't sufficiently detailed to show the location clearly and there was no photo of it, so I didn't know what I was looking for and therefore I didn't find it.  Having looked at photos on the internet it looks like it is in a field but I still don't know its exact location.

Artist Neal Grieg runs art workshops (painting and drawing) in a small studio on Coney Island.  On the day I visited I didn't see another person all the time I was on the island.

From the north coast of Coney Island you can clearly see the back of The Metal Man on Perch Rock.  He was put there in 1821 and is dressed as a Royal Navy officer.  He is pointing his arm to show the safest entrance to Sligo Harbour.  He has an identical twin at Tramore in County Waterford.  He is 3.7 metres tall and is maintained as a lighthouse by the Commissioners for Irish Lights.

Coney Island features in Sebastian Barry's novel The Secret Scripture, which is about the unhappy life of a 100 year old lady in an Irish mental hospital.  Heavily pregnant in the 1940s with an illegitimate baby and having been rejected by her in-laws in Sligo, she walks back to her hut in Strandhill at night along the beach. In the dark she loses her bearings and ends up walking across to Coney Island where she gives birth to a son.  Exhausted, she then falls asleep holding the baby in her arms but when she wakes up the baby has disappeared.  You'll have to read the book to find out what happens in the end.

Badgers colonised Coney Island in the 1970s and they are apparently lighter in colour than their mainland relatives and they have white noses.

Marker Post

 

Ruined Farm Buildings

 

Ruined Farmhouse

 

Welcome to Coney Island

 

Vegetable Garden

 

Donkeys and Rosehips

 

Pub

 

King Edward VII Letter Box

 

Coney Island Wildflowers Information Board

 

Oyster Island from Coney Island

 

Memorial Plaque

 

Metal Man and Rosses Point with Benbulbin in the misty distance from the north end of Coney Island

 

Coney Island Rock Pools Information Board

 

Old Water Pump

 

Fossils

 

Fossils

 

More fossils

 

Lighthouse on Black Rock from the west coast of Coney Island

 

Fossils

 

Close up of fossil

 

Cottage on Coney Island

 

Another Coney Island Cottage

 

Warning Notice

 

Old School

 

Warning Notice