Irish Examiner view: At loggerheads with our climate

Epic journey for Macdara, the turtle

Connemara’s Carna bay. 

There are many admirable attractions to an Irish beach holiday, but a bracing dip into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Connemara at this time of year is not a challenge to be taken lightly or without preparation. Or, perhaps, even without a wetsuit.

Spare some thought, then, for the rare loggerhead turtle, nicknamed Macdara after the local patron saint, swept up from the tropical waters of the Canary Islands in the wrong current during Storm Barra and deposited on the island of Muighinis, near Carna.

Poor Macdara, having survived an epic journey, likened to a scene from the Pixar animated movie Finding Nemo, was found shivering on the beach and suffering from hypothermia by a couple who were out walking. 

After giving it a firm céad míle fáilte, it has now been transported to the Galway Atlantaquaria.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group has recorded just 13 loggerhead turtles on Irish beaches since 2003, usually after big storms. 

In the autumn, Aer Lingus transported a loggerhead named Julius Caesar, marooned in 2019, back to the Canaries. 

Loggerheads suffer from system shutdown when they get cold shock, and the aquarium staff are trying to slowly stabilise the new visitor. 

We wish them well with that, and that Macdara enjoys her first Christmas with us.