Cash delay may damage bay forever

THE Seven Heads ranks amongst the most scenic, least spoiled areas of coastal west Cork.

Wild cliffs, broad beaches, sandy coves, and open ocean are its obvious attractions and it is only an hour’s drive from Cork city’s streets.

Courtmacsherry village is pretty as a picture postcard, with the bay in front and mature woodland behind. Timoleague’s ruined, 13th century Franciscan abbey, reflected in the waters of Courtmacsherry Bay by day and floodlit by night, is one of the finest examples of medieval ecclesiastical architecture in Ireland. The bay is fed by one of Munster’s best salmonoid rivers, the Argideen, famous for its sea trout fishery. Ornithologists value the bay for the number and diversity of migrant seabirds that over-winter on the mudflats, amongst them internationally important populations of black-tailed godwit, golden plover, and great northern diver, and nationally important populations of ten other species. Such is the wealth of scenery, history, and wildlife that the estuary is to be designated an Area of Special Conservation in 2009.