Homeward-bound goats, 'white horses' and adventurous gulls — all weather forecasters if you know how to understand them
Get ready for rain if you see the famous Lahinch Golf Club goats heading for home. Picture: @LahinchGolfClub
It’s a fair bet that most people currently enjoying their holidays by the seaside are not looking to the ocean for signs of approaching weather systems.
Our forebears, however, relied on tides, waves and movements of sea creatures to help foretell what the elements were going to do. A recent column on weather lore elicited an informed response from readers — one of the biggest we’ve ever experienced — with much of the feedback centred on the sea.
Thomas Harrington, a 76-year-old farmer who lives just 100 metres from Atlantic cliffs, in Clashmealcon, north Kerry, has closely observed the capricious ocean’s many and varied moods all his life.
“Every night, the light from Loop Head lighthouse, in Clare, shines in my bedroom window. I’ve always been fascinated by the sea which can tell us so much about what kind of weather is coming," he says.
And it’s towards Loop Head he regularly looks for such portents. If the sea is nice and calm around the head, if skies are clear and, ideally, the wind is coming from the north-east, he expects a fine spell.
“But, if waves are crashing into the cliffs, skies are darkening and a western wind is blowing, rough weather is on the way. A high tide bringing foam onto land is another bad sign I often see."
Thomas also looks out for dolphins around Kilrush, on the Shannon Estuary, and reckons good weather is surely coming if they’re moving out to sea. Similarly, gulls flying far out to sea is another promising sign... the opposite applies when they fly inland.
He has noticed a big drop in seagull numbers, which he attributes to slurry on land and the use of pesticides.
Thomas is wary of what he describes as tracks in the sea, or foam-crested tides and waves, called ‘white roads’ in West Cork — or 'white horses' — widely regarded as an omen of bad weather.
The lonesome call of the curlew is also ominous.
Keeping an eagle eye on what’s happening on land, Thomas says a ‘puff down’ of smoke in the chimney definitely signals rain.
He maintains animals are amazing with an apparent ability to sense changes in the atmosphere and impending weather.
The late, lamented playwright, John B Keane, sometimes wrote about a Listowel farmer, Sonny Canavan, and his goats.
Thomas recalled how when Sonny’s goats were grazing a good distance from his house, the weather was clement, but it was sure to break after they started coming back towards the house for shelter. It’s the same story with legendary goats still to be seen at Lahinch Golf Club, in County Clare.
Check out the Irish Examiner's WEATHER CENTRE for regularly updated short and long range forecasts wherever you are.
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