The Northern Coast
Loop Head’s northern coast is one continuous stretch of rock running from Kilkee all the way to Loop Head. For the most part the rock forms vertical cliffs that reach heights of over 60 meters. In places sea stacks and small islands, rock arches and sea caves have been carved out of Loop Head’s shale and sandstone backbone and in a few spots the rock slumps down to sea level. In these places rock platforms support an astonishing variety of life. Red, green and brown seaweeds cling to the slippery surface, encrusting seaweeds and lichen form large matts and hollows in the rock filled with seawater hold a microcosm of maritime life. Black sea urchins stand together in small colonies, starfish like the cushion star, seven armed starfish, spiny starfish and common starfish hide in cracks and crevices. Translucent shrimp and tiny fish zigzag across the pools. Painted topshell, dogwhelk and other sea snails and slugs go about their business searching for food on the seaweed and barnacle encrusted rock while common limpets wait for the return of the tide. The best examples of this ever changing and colourful habitat can be found in Ross and at the Pollock Holes in Kilkee (Kilkee Reefs Special Area of Conservation).
A series of tiny inlets and storm beaches, which are only accessible from the sea, are used by grey seals to give birth and raise their offspring in autumn. The youngsters then regularly show up on beaches and rocky shore around the peninsula between October and February, especially after rough weather. Adult animals can be seen all year round scanning their surroundings from the sea or resting on rocks. Common seals also live in the estuary but are a bit more elusive.
The vertical cliffs in comparison are barren places. Only in summer the narrow ledges in the cliff face come to life when hundreds of seabirds return to Loop Head to breed. Fulmars can be found all around the peninsula but are best observed on Dermot and Grania’s Rock where they share the cliff ledges with kittiwakes while black backed and herring gulls occupy the top of the sea stack. The biggest and most diverse bird colony is a place marked on the maps as Bullaunnaleama, the cliffs around the distinctive rock arch just north-east of Loop Head. Razorbills, guillemots, kittiwakes and fulmars breed here tightly packed from April to July, transforming the place into a noisy and busy bird metropolis. Rock doves, choughs and starlings also raise their offspring in the crevices of the cliffs. Another bit further east the herring and black backed gulls have another breeding colony on the aptly named Gull Island that they share with shags and cormorants. Fulmar, rock dove, chough, raven, peregrine and rock pipit can also be encountered here and other places along the coast.
Illaunonearaun, also known as Healy’s Island, is a large piece of rock just off Castle Point and has been designated a Special Protection Area for a flock of barnacle geese that regularly visit the island in winter to graze the vegetation on top of the island. For the most part the ground vegetation on the cliff tops is made of grasses some of which have spread from the nearby cultivated fields. Because of the constant exposure to wind and salt-spray this habitat is a place for specialists: thrift, scurvy grass, sea campion, sheep’s-bit, rock sea-spurrey and sea plantain are the most common species that can withstand the forces of the Atlantic and manage to transform Loop Head’s cliffs into a colourful affair during spring and summer.
How much the current coastal flora has been influenced and shaped by farming is hard to say but in a few spots typical members of a possibly much older vegetation pop up. Characteristic peatland species like common cotton grass, early marsh orchid and heathers occupy small areas here and there along the cliff top. This flora becomes more evident on the westernmost tip of the peninsula which features an area of more or less intact maritime heath. Bell heather, cross-leaved heath and ling are the dominating plants here, accompanied by typical blanket bog flowers like lousewort, heath milkwort and early marsh orchid. The Irish hare and snipe like to hunker down in the hollows between the heather, gorse shrubs house fox’s dens and meadow pipit, skylark and northern weather breed in the area.
The Estuary
While the cliffs on the northern coast of Loop Head are traditionally the home of seabirds, the mudflats of the estuary in the south of the peninsula attract thousands of waders, ducks and geese, particularly during the winter months.
Mudflats consist of very small sand and other particles, much smaller than the grains found on a sandy beach, that have been moulded together by tidal currents. Inside the mud reside worms like lugworm and sand mason, shells like cockle and razorshell and other invertebrates. These are the food source for a wide variety of animals including various species of fish and birds like oystercatcher, curlew, redshank, greenshank, lapwing, shelduck and teal. In some places, where the mud is mixed with stones and gravel, seaweeds can grow which attracts wintering brent geese, probably the most enigmatic of the wintering birds in the estuary.
On the upper shore where the surface is being covered by the tide only on occasion, the mudflat has been colonised by plants and become a saltmarsh. These areas are dominated by the invasive common cord grass and native common reed. Throughout spring and summer however wildflowers add a splash of colour to the otherwise monotone saltmarsh landscape. It starts in April with flowers that can also be found on the cliff tops, thrift and scurvy grass, and continues into summer with the delicate sea lavender and the striking sea aster. While the mudflats can be found all along the estuary, saltmarsh areas have established themselves mainly in the sheltered bays away from the main estuary, like the wide expanse of Poulnasherry Bay and the eastern part of Rinevella Bay.
Other inlets like Kilbaha Bay, western Rinevella Bay and Doonaha, feature sandy beaches and sandflats. Life on these sandy shores is similar to those on mudflats however with a smaller variety of species. Lugworms and cockles are the most common inhabitants of the sand which attract waders in search of a meal.
Dunes are often associated with sandy beaches but on Loop Head this habitat was able to develop in only one place. Loop Head’s only dune habitat can be found in Querrin where it is located on a narrow sand spit. This understated version of a dune landscape hosts a variety of wildflowers including white clover, bird’s foot trefoil, kidney vetch, yellow-horned poppy and pyramidal orchid. Rabbits have established a colony here, the only one on the peninsula, and the waders, ducks and geese use the sand spit to rest between their foraging trips. Other birds like the meadow pipit and skylark breed on the grassland and shelducks are known to use old rabbit burrows to raise their young. Stoat and pine martin have also been reported, most likely taking advantage of the rabbit population, and otters are common not only in Querrin but all along the estuary.
The Loop Head Peninsula also features three lagoons. Those are brackish lakes, extensions of the ocean from which they are separated by a barrier consisting mostly of shingle, rocks or sand. The water in the lagoons is a mix of groundwater, rainwater and seawater. The latter percolates through the barrier with every high tide, mixing with the existing water of the lagoon. As a result, the salinity of the lagoon is highly fluctuating. At times of high rainfall, the water gets diluted and salinity declines, during long dry periods and at times of high spring tides when more seawater enters the lagoon, the salt content increases. Two of the lagoons can be found at Kilbaha Bay: Cloghaun Lough is located at the eastern end of the bay and a very small, unnamed lagoon sits in a field beside the playground on the western end. The third lagoon is part of the saltmarsh at Rinevella and known as Clonconneen Pool, the pool by the rabbit’s meadow. The rabbits have however moved away since the lagoon was named.
The Interior
Loop Head’s interior is a typical Irish farming landscape: Small fields and pastures are separated by overgrown stone walls and earthen banks as well as hedgerows. While the fields themselves have become rather poor in biodiversity, thanks to an ever growing focus on a monoculture of fast growing grasses to feed dairy and beef cattle, hedgerows and other field borders are now the last refuge for numerous plant and animal species not only on Loop Head but all over Ireland.
The main building blocks of a traditional hedgerow are hawthorn and blackthorn which mingle with the likes of bramble, ivy and dog rose and can form an impenetrable thicket that provides shelter and food for animals like fox, badger and hedgehog, a variety of insects as well as numerous birds. Resident birds that are dependent on hedgerows include stonechat, skylark, rock and meadow pipit, goldfinch, greenfinch, twite, linnet, great tit, blue tit, blackbird, house and tree sparrow, robin and wren. Winter visitors that also take advantage of the shelter and food the shrubs provide include redwing and fieldfare and in spring and summer the cuckoo can be heard calling across the fields.
On Loop Head the traditional hedgerows are very much limited to the sheltered east and south. The more exposed areas in the western and northern part of the peninsula mainly feature old stone walls and earthen banks known as sod hedges. Mosses and lichen grow directly on the earth and exposed stones and the sod hedges that haven’t been taken over by brambles have developed a surprisingly varied flora: English stonecrop, common dog violet, hawkbit, sheep’s-bit and primrose are just some of the species that thrive on pockets of soil that have accumulated between the stones. Thrift in particular has adapted to stone walls and earthen banks and in places has completely taken over this man-made habitat. It was discovered only recently that these places host the very rare thrift-clearwing moth and populations of equally rare solitary bees. The small strip of land beside the hedgerows and sod hedges holds the remains of the traditional hay meadow flora: Various buttercups, cuckoo flower, ragged robin, Irish eyebright and many other species can be found in these restricted spaces.
The Eastern Edge
Peatlands are an integral part of the Irish landscape and Loop Head is no exception. While there are no living bogs on the peninsula itself apart from the exposed coastal heath on Loop Head, it is a stretch of bogland that marks the border between the peninsula and the mainland.
Most of this area is cutover blanket bog which has provided fuel to the local population for generations, parts have been transformed into commercial Sitka spruce forestations and pastures for cattle and a wind farm has also been built. Despite this degradation there are still areas of actively growing blanket bog where many of the typical bog plants still thrive: bog asphodel, marsh orchids, cranberry, bell heather & cross-leaved heath, round-leaved and oblong-leaved sundew, lesser bladderwort, pale butterwort as well as Sphagnum mosses, grasses and sedges and various lichen are common and widespread. A small area around Tullaher Lough (Tullaher Lough and Bog Special Area of Conservation) has been identified as one of the most westerly examples of a raised bog in Ireland and is an important wintering site for the Greenland white-fronted goose. Other birds that can be found in the area are hen harrier, snipe, cuckoo, skylark, reed bunting and stonechat.
Epilogue
While the Loop Head Peninsula is one of the strongholds for disappearing habitats and a haven for rare and endangered plants and animals, the impact of climate change and other man-made environmental problems is unfortunately obvious and growing. Due to intensified farming practices wildflowers and other plants are being pushed into ever smaller areas and with them the insects, birds and other animals depending on them. Wireweed, an invasive species of seaweed, has taken over the intertidal area around Ross and other places along the peninsula. Raw sewage is still being pumped into the estuary and the Atlantic due to a lack of wastewater treatment plants, treatment plants the residents of the peninsula have been demanding for many years. The numbers of breeding seabirds are declining year on year and their once predictable arrival and departure dates are changing. A study conducted in 2002 which explored the average high water values in the estuary concluded that water levels have risen on average by 0.4 meters between 1949 and 2002. Plastic pollution has become a normality and it is difficult finding a stretch of coast without fishing nets, plastic bottles and other plastic debris. And these are only some of the issues.
For many, visitors and residents alike, the Loop Head Peninsula might look like paradise but it is a fragile one and under siege from many sides and without considerable changes this paradise might disappear in a not too distant future.
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