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Islands of Ireland: Bushy Island — a wealth of dykes and mudflats and butterflies

But as with several of the Shannon islands Bushy Island is synonymous with a maritime tragedy
Islands of Ireland: Bushy Island — a wealth of dykes and mudflats and butterflies

Bushy Island, County Limerick. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

This island is one of a handful on the southern banks of the Shannon Estuary in County Limerick. Around the port of Foynes there are a couple, easy to miss as giant tankers glide past. Foynes Island was once home to Conor O’Brien who sailed single-handedly around the world 101 years ago. Further up the estuary towards Limerick are a few others including Greenish Island and White Island. Waller’s Island appeared here recently, so named for Hardress Waller MP who signed the death warrant for Charles I in 1649. A little further on was Pigott’s Island, unfortunately swallowed up by the mainland now.

Waller Island’s next-door neighbour is Bushy Island, and like Waller, is a heavily vegetated island though about half its size. The only activity on a recent trip there was what looked to this inexpert eye, a group of meadow brown butterflies guzzling nectar from a dandelion. Upon alighting on Bushy Island a rocky platform which occupies half the island is at once noticeable. The second, inner, half is the one that is overgrown. An aerial image on Google Maps shows this feature in stark relief as if a huge river flood just washed away half the island.

A series of beacons were once evident along The Shannon Estuary to enable navigation on its frequently shallow waters. There was one established too on Bushy Island, though on this trip there was no sign of its remnant. Possibly it was removed altogether or swallowed up in the vegetation that gave the island its name.

However, it is its vicinity which provides if not a rich vein of interest then at least a vein of interest. As with several of the Shannon islands Bushy Island is synonymous with a maritime tragedy. A newspaper report in 1860 gives a hint as to the shipping dangers in the area: “On Monday night, two turf boats, coming from Limerick were driven before the fury of the storm, and almost shattered to pieces on the shore near Dr Peppard’s, Bushy Island.”

Bushy Island, it should be said, is not just an island, but the island forms part of a townland of the same name which extends into the mainland.

These boats and crew survived, but a party of people in 1827 were not so lucky. A group of 25 people set out from Beagh Castle, on the shoreline to gather seaweed. Paul Clements takes up the story: “After the weather changed quickly, 12 of them decided to remain on the island while the other 13 (11 men and two women) set sail in heavy seas.” This proved to be a fatal mistake as the boat overturned in high seas and all were drowned.

It is possible to walk to Bushy Island at low tide though the access is through private land. In behind the shoreline there is an impressive series of dykes and drains, reminiscent of land reclamation in the Netherlands.

The name Beagh appears in several placenames around the country including in County Monaghan, Slieve Beagh, the highest point in the county at 380m. Clements mentions a translation as ‘a place of birch trees’. The castle, which is just a few hundred metres from the island is, in fact, a tower house dating from the early 13th century, constructed by the Fitzgeralds. It was also the site of a Viking settlement originally around the ninth century. Further out the estuary the Norsemen infamously laid waste to the island of the seven churches: Scattery Island. Interestingly, the above-mentioned Waller lived in the castle for a time too.

Clements writes that the castle was used as a coastguard station in the 1830s. And by the end of that century steamers en route to Limerick City used to negotiate their way through the voluminous mudflats and past Bushy Island to call in to Beagh pier.

There are several other Bushy Islands in Ireland, mainly found on lakes. Bushy Island on Lough Derg has a pair of white-tailed eagles. However, there is nothing so dramatic about the one on the estuary.

How to get there: Kayak from Beagh Castle, 8km north of Askeaton, County Limerick.

Other: afloat.ie; Shannon Country: A River Journey Through Time, Lilliput, Paul Clements

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