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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich

@cormacscoast.bsky.social

2.4K followers 72 following 660 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 · 13h

An eroded Septarian nodule with some Goniatite fossil inclusions.
It looks almost like a deflated ball 🤔
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 13h

🔊 Sound on
Half a minute of the shoreline breathing gently.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 13h

A Sea-urchin shell, found in a low tide rockpool.

Cleaned of the spines and tube-feet that covered it when it was living, you can see the beautiful details and symmetry of its shell.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 1d

Pink stripes and mother of pearl.

The underside of a Painted Topshell (Calliostoma zizyphinum).
County Clare,Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 1d

Fossilized Communal Coral running through this limestone pebble - evidence of the tropical seabed that once covered this area.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 1d

Fossilized Communal Coral running through this limestone pebble - evidence of the tropical seabed that once covered this area.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 1d

An oval concretion, with flat and rounded faces, polished smooth by waves and sand.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 3d

occasionally

Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 3d

Looks like he's spotted something worrying creeping up behind me 😯🤣🤣

Goniatite fossils in a shale pebble.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 3d

The remains of a large Conger eel (Conger conger) likely caught out by the big swells that arrived in the wake of Storm Amy and thrown high up on the shoreline. Black-backed gulls have been claiming their share.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 4d

Seapottery - a piece of a domestic life long since lived. The cracks look like an aerial view of a cityscape.
County Clare, Ireland.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 5d

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 · 5d

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 · 5d

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 · 6d

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 · 6d

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 · 6d

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 · 7d

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 · 7d

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

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 9d

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 · 9d

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 · 10d

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

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 10d

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

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 10d

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 · 12d

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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