Stags Of Broadhaven
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Broadhaven Bay ( ga, Cnocán na Líne) is a natural
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
of the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
on the northwestern coast of
County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...
, Ireland. The opening of the bay faces northward, stretching 8.6 km between
Erris Head Erris Head (Irish: ''Ceann Iorrais'') is a promontory at the northernmost tip of the Mullet Peninsula, located in the barony of Erris in northwest County Mayo, Ireland. It is a well known and recognised landmark used by mariners and weather fore ...
in the west and Kid Island/Oileán Mionnán in the east. It borders the parishes of Kilcommon, Kiltane and Kilmore Erris in the Barony of Erris. Landscape largely consists of Atlantic blanket bog interspersed with some areas of machair and white sandy beaches. Population is relatively low, mainly concentrated around inlets along the coastline.


Special Area of Conservation

Broadhaven Bay was designated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, as a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) in 2000. This designation concerns: #The presence of four key marine/coastal habitat types that are listed in Annex I of the EU Council Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Fauna and Flora (Habitats Directive: 92/43/EEC, 1982), including Atlantic salt marsh, tidal mudflats, reefs and large shallow bays; #The presence of a number of unusual marine communities and species, and; #The seasonal presence of wintering wildfowl and breeding terns (''Sterna'' spp.). Furthermore, the inner parts of Broadhaven Bay known as Sruwaddacon Bay is designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA) and, together with the nearby Glenamoy Bog complex SAC important for wintering wildfowl species, in particular for
brent geese The brant or brent goose (''Branta bernicla'') is a small goose of the genus ''Branta''. There are three subspecies, all of which winter along temperate-zone sea-coasts and breed on the high-Arctic tundra. The Brent oilfield was named after ...
, which is Annex II listed under the EU Birds directive.


History

During the
Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...
era in the 16th century, several of the Armada ships floundered in the waters of North Mayo. The ''Santiago'' went down in the bay and many ships through the years have met their end in these waters. There are many tales of fortunes of gold and valuables being stashed away by local
pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
after looting unfortunate ships which tried to take shelter from rough seas. See
Brian Rua U'Cearbhain Brian Rua (c.1648–?) was 17th century "prophet" or Oracle from Erris in County Mayo, Ireland. Papers relating to the life and the prophecies of Brian Rua, known collectively as "''Tarngaireacht Bhriain Ruaidh''" were destroyed, apparently by h ...
In 1715 Sir Arthur Shaen, an English landlord in Erris, began building a small town on a wet and marshy area near the Mullet Peninsula ("The Mullet"). To drain this marshy area and to form a passageway from
Blacksod Bay Blacksod Bay ( ga, Cuan an Fhóid Duibh) is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean in Erris, north County Mayo, Ireland. The long and wide bay is bounded on its western side by the Mullet Peninsula. Its eastern side includes Kiltane Parish, which ext ...
into Broadhaven Bay, Shaen had a
canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
excavated which would allow small boats to pass from one bay to the other. Development of the town, later to be
Belmullet Belmullet (, IPA: bʲeːlənˠˈwʊɾˠhəd̪ˠ is a coastal Gaeltacht town with a population of 1,019 on the Mullet Peninsula in the barony (Ireland), barony of Erris, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the commercial and cul ...
, proved to be a slow process, and the canal was blocked and unusable by the mid-18th century. In 1845 the Government sanctioned a grant of £5,000 to match the total of £4,000 raised locally to re-open the canal which would unite Broadhaven and Blacksod Bays. Work on the canal began in 1845, but due to the
Irish Famine The Great Famine ( ga, an Gorta Mór ), also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or simply the Famine and outside Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a h ...
which devastated the area, it was not completed until 1851. A report in 1851 states that the canal was being used extensively, and also states that the canal could be crossed by a swivel bridge.


Broadhaven Lighthouse

In the north western mouth of Broadhaven Bay stands Broadhaven Lighthouse which guides boats through the bay in more recent times. The lifeboat for the area is stationed at Ballyglass pier. There are many wonderful white sandy beaches all around the bay especially at Carrowteige/Rinroe,
Glengad Glengad () is a Gaeltacht village in the parish of Kilcommon in northwest County Mayo, Ireland. It is also known as Dooncarton (), a name which comes from an Iron Age tribal chieftain called Ciortan, a character who appears in the Ulster Cycle l ...
and Inver.


Wildlife

Cetaceans are afforded protection within the 200-mile Exclusive Fishery Zone limit of the Irish State under the 1976 Wildlife Act and a 1982 amendment to the Whale Fisheries Act. Marine mammal legislation also protects all cetaceans as Annex IV species (species of community interest in need of strict protection) under the European Habitats directive. Within this directive, there are five marine mammal species that are known to frequent Irish waters which are further listed as Annex II species (protected endangered and vulnerable animals), namely; * Common bottlenose dolphin (''Tursiops truncatus'') * Harbour porpoise (''Phocoena phocoena'') *
Gray seal The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or " ...
(''Halichoerus grypus'') * Harbour/ common seal (''Phoca vitulina vitulina'') *
European otter The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of th ...
(''Lutra lutra'') All five species are found in the Broadhaven Bay catchment.


Stags of Broadhaven

The Stags of Broadhaven (Irish: ''Na Stácaí'') are a group of five jagged rocky islands off the high cliffs of Benwee Head of Kilcommon parish. Although only just over a mile from the mainland, they lie outside Co. Mayo. The islands include the central island Teach Dónal Ó’Cléirigh, the highest. To the south lies An Teach Mór. To the east is An Teach Beag. The fourth island is The Stags NW of centre, Carraig na Faola, NW of centre and An t-Oighean (78m). They rise out of the sea rising steeply to over 100 metres above sea level. The islands support puffin, Storm & Leach’s petrels. One of the rocks is entirely bisected by a long narrow cave dramatically from one side to the other and they are a popular site for visiting divers, sub aqua teams, canoeists and adventurers. The Stags were formerly grazed for about six weeks every summer until the 1960s.


Importance as a marine habitat

Broadhaven Bay is an important habitat for many marine mammals and other marine life as it incorporates several different coastal habitats ranging from exposed bedrock at the foot of the Benwee Head cliffs due to constant wave action to sheltered mud sediments at the upper end of the estuary of Sruth Fada Conn Bay. Encompassed within an area that is relatively small, Broadhaven Bay and its inlet, Sruth Fada Conn Bay represent possibly the only known area in Ireland with all five Annex II (listed above in Wildlife) species present on a regular basis. The bay is species rich with 72 species counted. In exposed areas of the bay regularly exposed to wave action the anemone '' Phellia gausapata'' is found in shallow waters A cave in deeper water supports colonies of the rare anemone ''
Parazoanthus anguicomus ''Parazoanthus'' is a genus of anemone-like anthozoans in the order Zoantharia. Species The following species are recognized in the genus ''Parazoanthus'': * '' Parazoanthus aliceae'' Carreiro-Silva, Ocaña, Stanković, Sampaio, Porteiro, Fabri ...
'' and soft coral ''
Alcyonium glomeratum ''Alcyonium glomeratum'' or red sea fingers is a species of soft coral in the family Alcyoniidae. It is found around the southern and western coasts of Britain and Ireland. Description Red sea fingers is similar in shape to ''Alcyonium digitatum ...
''. In the outer bay zone beds of kelp thrive with foliose brown algaes and several varieties of the axinellid sponge species have colonised the reefs. Other communities tolerant of vertical or steeply sloped bedrock are thriving also. A rare crab ''
Pirimela denticulata ''Pirimela'' is a genus of crab containing a single species, ''Pirimela denticulata''. Description ''Pirimela denticulata'' is a "small, pretty crab", up to long and across the carapace. Its colouring is mostly green, with mottling of brown, ...
'' and hydroid '' Tamarisca tamarisca'' both live in the bay. In the sublittoral zones of the bay lives the burrowing urchin ''
Echinocardium cordatum ''Echinocardium cordatum'', also known as the common heart urchin or the sea potato, is a sea urchin in the family (biology), family Loveniidae. It is found in sub-tidal regions in the NE Atlantic. Other un-named species have been identified as t ...
'' whose hairy shells regularly turn up on the shores, seagrass ''
Zostera marina ''Zostera marina'' is a flowering vascular plant species as one of many kinds of seagrass, with this species known primarily by the English name of eelgrass with seawrack much less used, and refers to the plant after breaking loose from the submer ...
'' and oysters '' Ostrea edulis''. Broadhaven Bay is of high conservation importance owing to the presence of several habitats that are listed on Annex 1 of the EU Habitats Directive. Large shallow bays, intertidal sand flats, reefs, marine caves, salt marshes are of ornithological importance for breeding and overwintering bird species. In the inner bay of Sruth Fada Conn and other Broadhaven Bay inlets, there are extensive
intertidal mudflats The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species of ...
characterised by polychaetes and
bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...
communities. Atlantic salt marshes fringe on the blanket bog in this area also and species include turf fucoids,
sea thrift ''Armeria maritima'', the thrift, sea thrift or sea pink, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae. It is a compact evergreen perennial which grows in low clumps and sends up long stems that support globes of bright pink flow ...
,
sea arrowgrass ''Triglochin maritima'' is a species of flowering plant in the arrowgrass family Juncaginaceae. It is found in brackish marshes, freshwater marshes, wet sandy beaches, fens, damp grassland and bogs. It has a circumboreal distribution, occurring ...
,
Sea Plantain ''Plantago maritima'', the sea plantain, seaside plantain or goose tongue, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It has a subcosmopolitan distribution in temperate and Arctic regions, native to most of Europe, n ...
,
salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...
grasses, rushes ''
Juncus gerardii ''Juncus gerardii'', commonly known as blackgrass, black needle rush or saltmarsh rush, is a flowering plant in the rush family Juncaceae. Distribution ''Juncus gerardii'' is mainly a coastal species, occurring at the high tide mark on the Medit ...
'' and ''
Juncus maritimus ''Juncus maritimus'', known as the sea rush, is a species of rush that grows on coastlines. It is sometimes considered conspecific with '' Juncus kraussii''. It has a wide distribution across the western Palearctic realm (all of Europe, western ...
''. Broadhaven Bay and its inlets support important numbers of breeding terns of several varieties and black-headed gulls. It is an important area for wintering waterfowl. The following species have nationally important populations in the area - red-breasted merganser,
ringed plover The common ringed plover or ringed plover (''Charadrius hiaticula'') is a small plover that breeds in Arctic Eurasia. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from ...
,
grey plover The grey plover or black-bellied plover (''Pluvialis squatarola'') is a large plover breeding in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when not breeding. Taxonomy The grey plover was forma ...
, sanderling,
dunlin The dunlin (''Calidris alpina'') is a small wader, formerly sometimes separated with the other "stints" in the genus ''Erolia''. The English name is a dialect form of "dunling", first recorded in 1531–1532. It derives from ''dun'', "dull brown ...
, bar-tailed godwit, brent goose, oystercatcher,
Eurasian golden plover The European golden plover (''Pluvialis apricaria''), also known as the European golden-plover, Eurasian golden plover, or just the golden plover within Europe, is a largish plover. This species is similar to two other golden plovers: the America ...
, lapwing,
knot A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ' ...
, curlew, common redshank and
turnstone Turnstones are two bird species that comprise the genus ''Arenaria'' in the family Scolopacidae. They are closely related to calidrid sandpipers and might be considered members of the tribe Calidriini. The genus ''Arenaria'' was introduced by t ...
. Taken overall, it serves to highlight the uniqueness of Broadhaven Bay and the waters of northwest Mayo. In comparison with other areas in Ireland where surveys have been carried out, Broadhaven provides a high
marine mammal Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reli ...
species diversity, with sightings of 10 out of the 24 marine mammal species currently recorded in Irish waters occurring in the area.


Corrib Gas Project

Broadhaven Bay has in recent years (approx 2002–2014 and ongoing) been the site of the
Corrib gas controversy The Corrib gas controversy was a social protest campaign against the Corrib gas project in north-western County Mayo, Ireland. The project involves the processing of gas onshore through Broadhaven and Sruth Fada Conn Bays in Kilcommon. Original ...
where
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
sent the ''Solitaire'', reputedly the largest pipelaying ship in the world, into the bay to lay an offshore section of a pipeline to deliver gas from the Corrib gas discover. A local fisherman, Pat O'Donnell, served five months in Castlerea prison (February/March/April 2010) for refusing to stop fishing the bay in order to allow the Corrib Gas Project to lay a high pressure, unodourised pipeline and umbilical through it. The proposed project was under examination by the country's planning appeals board,
An Bord Pleanála (; meaning "The Planning Board"; ABP) is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2007, An Bord Pleanála directly decided major ...
, but has been overturned on each occasion. The third application from
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
involved the boring of a tunnel some 4.2 metres diameter deep under the entire length of the bay. The proposed gas pipeline diameter is just 0.5 metres but required additional material around it. The developers stated that the proposed tunnel in the protected bay is in order for them to bring in all future fossil fuel finds by the same route.


Notable People

Grace Devit - A local woman was reported to have lived to 122. She died in 1844 and claimed to have been born in 1722. She also claimed to have "never seen a tree, crossed a bridge, or left the Barony of Erris".


See also

*
Wild Atlantic Way The Wild Atlantic Way ( ga, Slí an Atlantaigh Fhiáin) is a tourism trail on the west coast, and on parts of the north and south coasts, of Ireland. The 2,500 km (1,553 mile) driving route passes through nine counties and three provinces, s ...


References

{{reflist


External links

* Hour long film documentary of Broadhaven Bay & environs 'Pipe Down' http://www.vimeo.com/8668733 Winner of Feature documentary - Waterford Film Festival 2009 * 'The Pipe' http://thepipethefilm.com/ - Trailer for a new film to be launched at Galway Film Festival 8 July 2010.
Ballyglass/Broadhaven lighthouse
Bays of County Mayo Tourist attractions in County Mayo Ramsar sites in the Republic of Ireland Erris