Whiddy Island Seaweed Event [Ellen Hutchins Festival]

The Ellen Hutchins Festival 2017 will take place in the Bantry, Ballylickey and Glengarriff area of West Cork in Heritage Week. The festival in 2015 was a great success and won the Heritage Council’s Hidden Heritage Award.

This year the festival is running from August 19 to 27 in conjunction with National Heritage Week.

The Whiddy event will involve an exploration of the seaweeds on the shores of Whiddy Island with Dr Susan Steele (Sea Fisheries Protection Authority). An exciting and educational shoreline exploration will be followed by identifying and preserving seaweeds, 1800s style. The event will follow in the footsteps of Ellen Hutchins with the enthusiastic expert Dr. Susan Steele taking the group on an exploration of the wonderful diversity of the shore. Everyone will carefully collect a few specimens and bring them indoors to identify. Participants will get a chance to try and preserve their specimen 1800s-style by floating onto paper.

As the shore is rough, participants must wear walking boots and be reasonably fit.

Details

Ferries leave Bantry at 11am and 1pm and return from Whiddy at 4:15pm & 5:45pm.
Cost: €6:50 return.
Ferry: www.whiddyferry.com

The Bank House Bar on Whiddy serves food and drink.

This event is FREE, except the cost of the ferry. No booking needed.