Cape Clear Island

Oilean Chleire lies about thirteen kilometres off the West Cork coast and is the most southerly inhabited part of Ireland. It is a Gaeltacht island, with Irish still the community language and a summer Irish college that brings students out each year, and the resident population is roughly a hundred and ten. Cape Clear Bird Observatory, running since 1959, is the reason a certain kind of visitor comes: the island sits on a migration route and the sea south of it produces some of the best seabird passage in Europe, with shearwaters, skuas and petrels moving past in autumn, and rare American vagrants turning up regularly. There is also a goat farm making ice cream, a heritage centre, an early church ruin and a storytelling festival in September. The ferry crossing is exposed and cancels in swell, so a day trip can turn into an unplanned overnight.

History

Archaeological sites on the island include a prehistoric cup-marked stone, a fulacht fiadh, a Neolithic passage tomb, several standing stones, a promontory fort at Dún an Óir and a signal tower from the Napoleonic Wars (Wikipedia, Cape Clear Island).

Highlights

• The bird observatory - running since 1959, on a major migration route.
• The Gaeltacht community - Irish spoken daily, about a hundred and ten people.
• The seabird passage - shearwaters, skuas and petrels off the southern headlands.
• The island itself - ruined church, harbours and walking routes.

When to go

May to September for the weather; August to October for the seabird passage, which is the island's speciality. Accommodation is limited and books out for the September storytelling festival.

Good to know

The crossing is exposed and cancels in swell - build in the possibility of being stuck. Very limited accommodation, one shop, and services that close outside season. Visitors do not bring cars.

Nearby

Baltimore and Sherkin Island are on the mainland side; the Fastnet Rock is south-west.

Key facts