The Irish language is full of poetry. I’m standing on the larger of the two Saltee Islands off Ireland’s south east coast, looking at the white tops of waves on a choppy sea. In Gaelic, I discover, they would be described as “white flowers on the fisherman’s garden” (bláth bán ar gharraí an iascaire). How beautiful is that?
Privately owned by the Neale family, The Saltees are a twitchers’ paradise; a must-visit for anyone who wants to get up close and personal with the most endearing of seabirds - the puffin. During my visit in early summer, these cute and colourful little chaps are busy feeding their young. The parents pop up from holes dotted along the cliffs, facing the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. Seemingly unperturbed by human visitors, the puffins clearly know their place in the local pecking order, swiftly moving on when a razorbill shoos them away.
At the far tip of Great Saltee, another seabird spectacle awaits. After pushing through a ‘forest’ of shoulder-height fern, we emerge at an outcrop covered in thousands of nesting gannets. Old and
