Fiddown Island

Fiddown Island is a narrow willow-choked ribbon in the River Suir, protected since 1988 as Ireland’s only known habitat of its kind. Locals called it Sally Island because people cut its flexible rods for baskets and lined roof rafters with reeds taken from its borders. Otters, kingfishers and rare warblers still move through the green maze, while ash and hawthorn hold the drier edges against the water. It is not a grand mountain or dramatic cliff; it is a living workshop, half forgotten and endlessly useful.