Great Saltee: A visit strictly for the birds

THE other day, I revisited Great Saltee Island, off the Wexford Coast.

I love visiting offshore islands and Great Saltee, in May, is one of my favourites.

You disembark from a launch, into an inflatable dingy, which runs up on a stony beach, where you try to hop out without wetting a foot (I succeeded on the way out, but not on the return trip, when the tide had changed). There is a welcoming committee: two, young, female Atlantic grey seals with a massive curiosity about people. They surface a couple of metres away and scrutinise you with their enormous, round eyes.