Helvick

Helvick or Helvick Head (Irish: Heilbhic) is a headland on the southern end of Dungarvan Harbour, Ireland; it is the eastern tip of the Ring Peninsula.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Helvick
View from Ballyvoile out to Helvick Head
Coordinates52.053615°N 7.536734°W / 52.053615; -7.536734
GeologyOld Red Sandstone
Age380 million years

Formed of Old Red Sandstone, it is the easternmost protrusion of a ridge that begins near Cork City.[7]

Royal National Lifeboat Institution station

Name

Helvick is one of very few Irish place names derived from the Old Norse of the Viking sailors who patrolled these coasts in the Middle Ages. The second part, -vík, means "bay" (cf. Smerwick); the meaning of the first part is unclear, but it may mean "healthy", "white", "holy", or "safe"; compare with Hellvik, Norway.[8]

Wildlife

Helvick Head is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).[9] The cliffs are a nesting site for seabirds including choughs and shag. Other bird species include razorbill, Northern fulmar, peregrine falcon, black-legged kittiwake, black guillemot, and common murre (guillemot).[10]

Plants include gorse, bell heather, ling, devil's-bit scabious, heath bedstraw, bog violet, burnet rose, thrift, kidney vetch, sea mayweed and wild carrot.[11][12]

References
  1. Office, United States Hydrographic (February 8, 1923). "British Islands Pilot". Hydrographic office under the authority of the secretary of the navy – via Google Books.
  2. "Through the Gaeltacht and to the sea". The Irish Times.
  3. "Helvick Head - Ireland Highlights".
  4. "eOceanic". eoceanic.com.
  5. Martin, Tina Broderick (February 8, 1991). "From Helvick Head to Hescut Point: The St. Brendan's Irish". St. Brendan's Come Home Year Committee – via Google Books.
  6. Walsh, David (February 8, 2004). "Oileain: A Guide to the Irish Islands". Pesda Press – via Google Books.
  7. "Old Red Sandstone". University College Cork.
  8. "Heilbhic/Helvick". Logainm.ie.
  9. Helvick Head SAC | National Parks & Wildlife Service
  10. https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/protected-sites/natura2000/NF000665.pdf
  11. "Helvick Head". www.askaboutireland.ie.
  12. "The Irish Naturalists' Journal". I.N.J. Committee. February 8, 1968 – via Google Books.
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