Islands of Ireland: Best leave Cull Island to the birds — view it from the mainland

This island can be seen from the shore about 2km southeast of the village of Duncormick where a beautiful shoreline walk fringes the lagoon

Cull Island Picture: Kevin Higgins, geograph.ie

Islands are few and far between along the County Wexford coast. There are the mighty Saltees of course, currently hosting a throng of puffins (hopefully). Then there is Tuskar Rock, (the scene of the tragic Aer Lingus crash in 1968), and yet to be visited by this columnist, alas. Off Bannow Bay there are a pair of islands, the Keeraghs, scene of a shipwreck in 1914 when nine lifeboat men on the Helen Blake drowned in an attempt to save the crew of the Norwegian schooner, the Mexico.

These islands are just south of the lovely Cullenstown Strand, which brings us neatly to this week’s subject, Cull Island. Stretching between the villages of Cullenstown and Kilmore Quay for about 8km is the magnificent Ballyteige Burrow, a sand-dune system standing about 7m high which protects the mainland from incursions by the sea. It rises and falls like a wave of sand and offers a home to dozens of bird species. Behind the burrow the sea has encroached to make a huge lagoon and in this lagoon at the opposite end to the incursion is found Cull Island. The lagoon fills from the sea in a west to east direction with the tidal range distinct over its length in the few hours it takes to fill.