Sheep Island

Sheep Island is a three-and-a-half-hectare islet half a kilometre off the north coast of County Antrim, where near-vertical cliffs rise more than twenty metres above rocky shores. It remains uninhabited by people, yet it teems with cormorants, shags, fulmars, kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots, making the small dome a crowded palace for birds. More than five per cent of Ireland’s cormorant population uses this steep, soil-topped place, which is why it is protected as a Special Protection Area and an Area of Special Scientific Interest.