Sea-cows

Cattle ambling along the sea’s edge of the Cunnigar, a 5km sand spit, jutting out across Dungarvan Bay, in County Waterford.

The Cunnigar or an Coinigéar is accessed from Ring or An Rinn, a tiny Gaelic speaking community of about 800 people that has somehow survived in what is otherwise one of Ireland’s more developed counties.

Originally owned by the Duke of Devonshire, it was the site of the first golf course in West Waterford where the Duke and his prominent buddies used to come and play. But happily, no longer. Today it’s a wild place, a refuge for wild birds and wild flowers – and a small herd of cattle.