Islands of Ireland: In the swim of things at Sandy Cove Island

A very short drive from Kinsale lies an island that is the international focal point for a tough breed of people.

Sandy Cove Island, or Cnoc an Rois, is a grassy island which hosts a significant population of seagulls which create an enveloping cacophony for anybody who strays too near. It is unpopulated, apart from two herds of wild goats, and as it is possible to wade to it at high tide from the slip opposite at Sandy Cove, it attracts the occasional angler.