Inis Tuaisceart (sometimes spelled ''Inishtooshkert'') (''Inis Tuaisceart'' in Irish) is the northernmost of the

Blasket Islands The Blasket Islands () are an uninhabited group of islands off the west coast of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The last island to hold a significant population, Great Blasket Island, was abandoned in 1954 due to population decl ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Etymology

The Irish name means "northern island" and the English name is a

phonetic spelling A phonemic orthography is an orthography (system for writing a language) in which the graphemes (written symbols) correspond consistently to the language's phonemes (the smallest units of speech that can differentiate words), or more generally ...

of the Irish name. The island is also known as ''An Fear Marbh'' (the dead man) or the sleeping giant due to its appearance when seen from the east (as in the photograph).

Nature

Inishtooskert holds important

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

colonies, as well as extensive ruins of ancient stone buildings. Of particular note is the colony of

European storm-petrel The European storm petrel (''Hydrobates pelagicus''), also known as British storm petrel, or just storm petrel, is a species of seabird in the northern storm petrel family, Hydrobatidae. The small, square-tailed bird is entirely black except fo ...

s. With over 27,000 pairs in 2000 (

Seabird 2000 Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envi ...

survey), this is the largest colony in Ireland.

In culture

The island appears frequently in

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor, widely considered one of the most important figures of Cinema of the United Kingdom, British cinema. He directed the large-scale epi ...

's 1970 film

Ryan's Daughter ''Ryan's Daughter'' is a 1970 British epic romantic drama film directed by David Lean and written by Robert Bolt. Loosely inspired by Gustave Flaubert's 1857 novel ''Madame Bovary'', the film stars Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles as a married ...

Photo gallery

File:Tooskert2.jpg, The northern cliffs of Inishtooskert File:Inishtooskert, large Clochaun, Blasket Islands.jpg, Early Medieval ecclesiastical site on the island File:Inis Tuaisceart (Inishtooskert) - geograph.org.uk - 220149.jpg, Inishtooskert seen from the mainland

References

External links