The Skerries are a small group of rocky islands ( skerries) just off

Portrush Portrush () is a small seaside resort town on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It neighbours the resort of Portstewart. The main part of the old town, including the railway station as well as most hotels, restaurants and bars, ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population ...

, on the north coast of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. Winkle Isle is the local name for the large Skerry island, the small Skerry being known as Castle Isle. The islands are part of an Area of Special Scientific Interest. Local boat trips from Portrush pass the Skerries en route to the

Giant's Causeway The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of ...

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 The kittiwakes (genus ''Rissa'') are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') and the red-legged kittiwake (''Rissa brevirostris''). The epithets "black-legged" and "red-l ...

black guillemot The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the ...

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 ''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 subme ...

'') and horse mussel ('' Modiolus modiolus''). In addition, recent surveys have found numbers of the spiny spider crab (''

Maja brachydactyla ''Maja brachydactyla'' is a species of crab in the family Majidae. It was initially described as a subspecies of '' M. squinado.'' A review of the species complex published in 1998 was able to differentiate between specimens from the Mediterranea ...

''), which is new to Northern Ireland.

Shipwrecks

On 28 December 1879 the sailing vessel, ''Thomas Graham'', owned by John and Thomas Candlish of Palnackie in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and captained by John Candlish, was stranded at the Skerries and lost.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skerries, Northern Ireland Landforms of County Antrim Northern Ireland coast Islands of County Antrim Skerries Portrush