Cover photo by Aoife Herriott

We saw a large flock of Puffins while on Inishturk last week. They were congregating around one of the cliff faces where we stopped to admire them. We lay down on the grass at the top edge of the cliff to watch them swoop below us which was more than a little hair raising! My camera didn’t pick up the images very well but fortunately there were a couple of professional photographers in the group, among them Aoife Herriot who was kind enough to share her pictures with me.

 Puffins on Inishturk by Aoife Herriott

The cliff face was lush with growth,  grasses and a beautiful plant called Samphire which is very clear in this photo above. It was prolific in this particular spot and the leaves and delicate flower are edible.

These next photo also taken by Aoife, is of a Fulmer which is a seabird that looks rather like a gull but is in fact related to the Albatross. They breed on the cliffs here – we were mesmerised watching them swoop in and out of the rock face alongside the puffins.

 Fulmer at Inishturk by Aoife Herriott

You can see more of Aoifes work on her website at www.aoifeherriott.com and at www.connemaraartlink.com