Kelp House on Rathlin Island

Rathlin is Northern Ireland's only inhabited island. It has breathtaking scenery and is rich in birdlife, wildlife and unusual flora, and on a clear day Scotland can be seen across the water.

From the West Light Viewpoint you can watch the activities of puffins, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and fulmars as they raise their young during the summer months. A wide variety of other birds can also be seen on the island, including peregrins, buzzards, wheatears, stonechats, skylarks, eiders, ringed plovers, oystercatchers, black guillemots, gannets, manx shearwaters and skuas. Grey and common seals are generally to be seen basking on the rocks around the island, and sometimes schools of dolphins and porpoises can be seen in the Channel. 

Rathlin's shores are dotted with wrecks, thrown onto the rocks during storms. One of the most famous wrecks is HMS Drake, the flagship of the British Navy during World War One, which was torpedoed and sunk in Church Bay. Lighthouses have been built amongst the rocky cliffs of the island, and the history of their construction is explained in detail at the Boathouse Visitor Centre.

Rathlin's most recent famous visitor was Richard Branson, whose hot-air balloon crashed into the sea off Rathlin in 1987 after its record-breaking cross Atlantic flight from Maine, USA. Richard Branson and Per Lindstrom were rescued from the sea a few miles northwest of Bull Point, Rathlin, where they were taken to safety.

Information and photograph Rathlin Development and Community Association

Further information on Rathlin Island