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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich

@cormacscoast.bsky.social

2.4K followers 71 following 650 posts

Hiking guide providing walking tours along Ireland's Atlantic coast Cliffs of Moher, Burren,Slieve League Zoology Marine Biology Geology Botany Local history

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 4h

A female Spider crab (Maja brachydactyla) body that looks like it's been sitting high and dry for some time.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 5h

Goniatite fossils packed throughout this piece of shale. The shells of these ancient relatives of Squid and Octopus must have littered the sea floor that covered this part of the earths surface over 300 million years ago.
County Clare, Ireland

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 5h

Winds, blowing in the wake of Storm Amy, chase clouds and changing light across the cliff faces on Sliabh Liag.
County Donegal, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 1d

A sea smoothed Concretion - Concretions can form in delta sedimentary layers around bits of organic material or pebbles, which then become harder than the surrounding rock. They often erode out later as circular or rounded stones - water, waves and sand have finished the polishing job on this one.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 1d

Horses and riders, enjoying a clear morning on the coast after a stormy couple of days.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 1d

A shipwrecked By-the-Wind Sailor (Velella velella). Cast up by high tide and winds, left to dry out on the burren limestone.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 2d

A piece of a Common Piddock (Pholas dactylus) shell. Like the ribbed pattern on a Knitted sweater, this bivalve uses it rough outer shell to burrow its way into the rocks that it lives in.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 2d

Stirred up seas in the wake of Storm Amy.
Sliabh Liag cliffs, County Donegal, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 4d

Gooseneck barnacles (Lepas anatifera) on a rockpool floor with a couple of Common prawns (Palaemon serratus) paying them close attention.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 4d

A Pretty Pebble - possibly a piece of porphyritic rhyolite??
Likely transported south here by glaciers during a previous ice age.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 5d

Sunset from Lahinch, looking across Liscannor bay.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 5d

Goniatite fossil shell - like an eye peering out of the shale.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 5d

A piece of flint - it doesn't occur here naturally, so may have been dropped here as emptied boat balast. Or transported here thousands of years ago by neolithic/mesolithic people using it for making tools.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 7d

An eye-catching snail shell, hanging out on the house wall yesterday evening. I think it might be a White-lipped snail (Cepaea hortensis).
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 7d

The Cliffs of Moher emerging from the morning mists.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 7d

Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) foraging for wrack flies amongst the seaweed piles.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 8d

A Pixie cup lichen (Cladonia sp.) forest.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 10d

A tangle of Keelworm (Spirobranchus triqueter) casings. These are the protective calcareous tubes that Keelworms build and inhabit on rocky or hard surfaces. These ones have been abandoned and knocked loose from whatever surface they were once attached to.
County Donegal, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 10d

Fiadh, cautiously trying to work out the depth in the crystal clear rockpool water.
County Donegal, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 10d

A small community of Common Limpets (Patella vulgata) have selected this particular rock as their resting spot during lowtide. Once the tide returns they'll head off looking for food.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 12d

The imprint of a fossilized Lepidodendron root section embedded in the rock layers. These roots would have fed nutrients to huge tree-like club mosses that grew in the swampy tropical conditions that prevailed on this part of the earths surface over 300 million years ago.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 12d

Sliabh Liag cliffs, County Donegal, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 12d

A small Purple/Flat topshell (Steromphala umbilicalis) with its stripey pattern.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 13d

First light catching the top of the Sliabh Liag cliffs.
County Donegal, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 13d

Groups of Dahlia anemones (Urticina felina) in lowtide rockpool crevices. Each with its own mix of beautiful colours.
County Clare, Ireland.

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