Monty Halls and his black very lively German shepherd dog Reuben spent 6 months from May to October in a cottage on the island of Inishnee (linked by a bridge to the mainland) near Roundstone, Connemara, County Galway. He worked as a volunteer for the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group and he spent much of the time in his own RIB sailing up and down the nearby coast observing and photographing dolphins. He also found time to:
- Help tag basking sharks off Malin Head and blue sharks off Cleggan
- Take part in a currach race at a regatta on the Aran Islands
- Help with an autopsy on a very smelly dead minke whale
- Transport a dead striped dolphin to Galway in his Land Rover
- Take part in a mussel cooking competition
- Learn how to harvest mussels
- Learn how to fish for trout and salmon with varying degrees of success
- Help crew a Galway hooker in a sailing race at Kinvara
- Visit Inishturk and gave a talk to the school children about whales, dolphins and sharks.
I don't know how he managed to cram all those activities into 6 months. Presumably he didn't have very much 'stand and stare time'. The very readable account of his time in Ireland is interspersed with some information about cetaceans and other wildlife and some Irish history. It accompanies the BBC TV series of the same name.
Islands covered - Inishnee, Inishlacken, Inishturk, Achill Island and Inishmore 8/10
Ruined house on Inishnee
Roundstone from Inishnee
Inishnee
Modern houses on Inishnee
Inishturk cliffs
Inishturk Harbour
Inishturk
Inishturk