Island 361 - Scanlan's Island, County Clare

Scanlan's Island is a small tidal island joined on its north east corner to the coast of County Clare at the village of Finvarra at low tide.  It is also permanently to the mainland by a rough causeway, described on the Ordnance Survey Discovery Map as a breakwater.  I'm not sure of the purpose of this breakwater, as it is too rough to drive over or for cattle to walk over.  I walked across it in my ordinary shoes but wished I had put my walking boots on, as it was very uneven.  I visited just after high tide and the breakwater was all above the water level.   At the side of it I could see both ends of what looked to be a track used by vehicles at low water to cross to the island.  There were cow pats on the low tide track, which looks to run around the edge of at least part of the island, but I didn't see any cows. While I was on the island I heard my first cuckoo of 2017.

The remains of two other breakwaters can be seen, one a few metres to the west of the current one and another (which looks a bit like the Loch Ness Monster) on the north west corner of the island.  These two breakwaters are marked on the 1990s OS map but not on the 2015 edition. 

Scanlan's Island is diamond shaped and is approximately 1km from north to south and 700 metres from east to west at its widest point.  It is low lying, with the highest point being only 8 metres above sea level.  The whole island is farmed.  When I visited in mid May 2017 the northern third had been ploughed, the middle section was pasture, although I couldn't see any livestock grazing it and the southern part was growing some kind of crop.

Half a mile to the west of Finvarra there is a shop selling delicious Linnalla homemade ice cream.  Just outside the shop and overlooking Scanlan's Island there is a curious monument/memorial wall.  I'm not sure what the purpose of it was but I quite liked it.

 Looking south down the east coast

 

Finvarra from Scanlan's Island

 

Track from Scanlan's Island to Finvarra at high tide

 

Gate onto Scanlan's Island

 

Scanlan's Island

 

Breakwater to Scanlan's Island from Finvarra

 

Older breakwater, looking towards Scanlan's Island from Finvarra

 

 Loch Ness Monster broken breakwater at the north west end of Scanlan's Island

 

Unusual Monument at Rine

 

Monument at Rine

 

Scanlan's Island from the unusual monument