Barloge Creek

The physical contours of Lough Ine Reserve, both above and below the surface, exert dramatic influences on water movements. Outside Barlogue Creek, which is the seaward entrance to the reserve, the coast is subject to wave crash by long Atlantic swells originating thousands of miles offshore.

The Rapids

The Rapids, at the head of Barlogue Creek, is a narrow rocky channel through which the tide pours in and out at speeds approaching ten miles per hour. Although dangerous to swimmers, these strong currents support an extraordinarily rich marine life of
multi-coloured sponges, sea squirts, sea anemones and even corals, all growing beneath a dense canopy of kelp up to 4.5 metes long. At low water in Barlogue Creek the water level inside the Lough may be up to three metres higher than outside, causing a cascade of water to tumble out over the sill into the Creek. This sill, the shallowest part of The Rapids, is only one or two metres deep at low water in the lough and is just above
mid-time level in Barloge Creek, causing the tide to flow in to the lough for only four hours and out for 8.5 hours. The rise and fall of the tide in Lough Hyne is about 1 metre compared with 3½ metres in Barloge Creek.

Diverse Marine Life

Lough Ine Nature Reserve therefore contains such varied environments as wave-battered headlands, sea-caves, shallow sheltered channels covered with sea-grass, tidal rapids with powerful currents, unusual tides, deep sheltered water and all intermediate environments. This almost complete range of temperate marine environments is now protected by law, providing a haven from exploitation and pollution for Lough Ine’s diverse marine life.

The Reserve contains several thousand species of marine animals and plants. The fauna and flora of Lough Ine, The Rapids and Barloge Creek constitute a unique assemblage of marine organisms for an area only one square kilometer in extent. Situated on the south-west corner of Ireland, the Reserve’s clean, warm Atlantic water permits survival of Southern (or Lusitanian) species of animals and plants, common in the Mediterranean and surrounding areas, together with species common to the rest of Ireland and Britain. Lough Ine also supports large populations of rare fish as well as both rare and common species of most groups of marine animals and plants.

The richness of Lough Ine’s marine life can be appredated from the high proportion of species found within the square kilometer of the nature reserve, compared with the rest of the Irish coastline. Within the reserve boundary have been found 73 species of sea-slug, three-quarters of the total number of species for the whole of Ireland, over 100 species of sponges, 24 of crabs and 18 of sea-anemones.

As well as visiting Lough Ine, why not explore the many more things to do in West Cork.

The Irish Times - Wednesday, November 30, 2011

First sighting of dolphin in Irish lake by PAT FLYNN

THE IRISH Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has confirmed the first sighting of a dolphin in an Irish lake, in Lough Hyne near Baltimore, Co Cork. This is the first time a cetacean has been found in such an environment. The group’s sightings co-ordinator Pádraig Whooley said: “The IWDG frequently documents cetaceans in bays, occasionally in estuaries, rarely in rivers, but to the best of my knowledge, and I’m open to correction, this is the first validated record of a cetacean using an Irish lake.”

The sighting was made by Skibbereen-based kayaking instructor Jim Kennedy in recent weeks. He observed and filmed the juvenile/ calf over two days. Images sent to the whale and dolphin group have confirmed that it is a young common dolphin.While the dolphin may have taken up residence in Lough Hyne, there have, however, been no sightings since of the mammal. Mr Whooley said: “There were no further sightings after the second day, so we would not be overly confident that it made its way out of the lough into Barlogue Creek and back to open sea. But without any stranding reports within the lough, there is always a chance.”

“It also means we can add another habitat type that can potentially be utilised by Irish cetaceans and, of course, those tasked with conserving and studying this unique site can claim that its species diversity now extends to dolphins.” The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group was founded in 1990 to establish an Irish stranding and sighting scheme and to campaign for the declaration of Irish territorial waters as a whale and dolphin sanctuary.

A year later, in June 1991, the late taoiseach Charles J Haughey declared all Irish waters to be a whale and dolphin sanctuary, the first of its kind in Europe. Two decades later, in April this year, the Haughey family donated the former taoiseach’s yacht Celtic Mist to the whale and dolphin group.

The yacht is undergoing refitting as a maritime research vessel.