The Skerries are a small group of rocky islands (skerries) just off Portrush, County Antrim, on the north coast of Northern Ireland. A skerry is a small rocky island, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack. A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. Skerries also, in some areas of the world, are rested upon by animals such as seals or birds, though usually not inhabited.
Skerries are most commonly formed at the outlet of fjords where submerged glacially formed valleys at right angles to the coast join with other cross valleys in a complex array. In some places near the seaward margins of fjorded areas, the ice-scoured channels are so numerous and varied in direction that the rocky coast is divided into thousands of island blocks, some large and mountainous while others are merely rocky points or rock reefs that menace navigation.
The Skerries are part of an Area of Special Scientific Interest. In 1996 the islands were designated as part of the Ramore Head and The Skerries Area of Special Scientific Interest. The islands are a habitat for breeding by a range of seabirds including kittiwake, black guillemot and eider duck. The temperature of the Skerries during the summer months is warmer than other parts of Northern Ireland, and so the rocks are home to particularly interesting fauna; it is the only place many southern species such as the cotton spinner sea cucumber (Holothuria forskali) are found in Northern Ireland. There are several protected habitats located around the Skerries, notably for seagrass (Zostera marina) and horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus). In addition, recent surveys have found numbers of the spiny spider crab (Maja brachydactyla), which is new to Northern Ireland.
Downloaded from The Skerries, Northern Ireland - Wikipedia on 27/5/22
These bleak, rocky islands are uninhabited and ideal for supporting a diverse ecological habitat, the most significant of which are the breeding birds, such as the Kittiwake, Black Guillemot and Eider Duck. A common myth is that they were the final resting place of the Great Auk, a seabird which became extinct in 1852. It looked rather like a penguin, but they were not biologically related. The penguins were named by sailors who saw the similarities to the Great Auk, whose Latin name is Pinguinus impennis.
The Skerries Road is the name for the stretch of water on the landward side of the chain of islands. Since medieval times, the calm water has been used to shelter ships who needed to escape bad weather or needed a place to take on cargo, crew or passengers. In the 1700s & early 1800s, newspaper articles advised people emigrating from Ireland to find better lives abroad that their ship would depart from “the Skerries Road, off Portrush” before sailing for America.
In 1858, there was a proposal to build a ‘Harbour of Refuge’ at the Skerries Road. The plan was to form the whole chain of islands into a continuous breakwater, leaving an open channel between Ramore Head and the western islands. This was anticipated to create more business in Portrush as a commercial port, but the idea was abandoned as the ports at Coleraine and Londonderry feared they would lose business and did not support the project.
The Skerries Road was also the site of a sea tragedy in December 1863 when the coal ship Providence sank as crowds on the shore watched. Six men were lost.
Downloaded from discoverportrush.com/nature/ramore-head-skerries/ on 27/5/22
To log this earthcache please answer the following questions and send them in a message to me. Feel free to log your find, if there is a problem with your answers, I’ll contact you.
1) In your own words, how are skerries normally formed?
2)What species of birds are mentioned by name in the paragraphs above?
3) There’s another name for a skerry. What is it?
4) In what year were The Skerries designated as part of an Area of Special Scientific Interest?
Waypoint 1 brings you to an information board about the Skerries. The answers to the next two questions will be on the information board.
5) The bathymetric data mentioned on the info board shows complex geology resulting in what?
6) he information board lists the names of the four Skerries. What are they?
7) (Optional extra.)Log a photo of you, your gps or sheet of paper with your name on it at the waypoint with the Skerries in the background.