Overview
The Stags of Broadhaven are the only place in Ireland where Leach’s storm petrel breeds. Five steep-sided stacks of hard schist, they rise almost 100 metres straight out of the Atlantic about 2.5 km north of Benwee Head, uninhabited and reachable only by boat. For most visitors the honest advice is to look, not land: the best view is from the cliffs of Benwee Head, and getting any closer is a job for experienced sea kayakers.
The five stacks
The group is five distinct stacks, each with its own Irish name:
- Teach Dónal Ó Cléirigh – the central and highest, close to 97 metres.
- Teach Mór – the second highest, around 93 metres.
- An Teach Beag – about 71 metres, cut clean through by a natural east-to-west sea tunnel.
- An t-Oighean – roughly 78 metres.
- Carraig na Faola – the smallest, 30 to 45 metres.
The whole cluster covers just four hectares. Nearby Kid Island lies further east in the bay but isn’t part of the Stags.
Geology
The stacks are semi-pelitic schist, a hard metamorphic rock that resists erosion and gives the islands their jagged faces – so distinctive that it’s locally called “Stags of Broadhaven Schist.” Atlantic swells have driven the tunnel clean through An Teach Beag and cut sea arches into the others.
Getting out to them
Sea kayaking is how experienced paddlers reach the Stags. A typical trip launches from Portacloy Harbour for a 7 km round-trip crossing. The channels between the stacks squeeze and amplify the swell, so the final approach is committing, and landing usually means swimming the last few metres onto bare rock – there is no jetty and no easy cove. This is not a beginner’s outing. Climbers come for the schist faces, which give solid holds and a lot of exposure.
Divers come for the water rather than the rock. The channel between the two main stacks drops to about 36 metres and is known for its colourful jewel anemones, while a sheltered cavern on the north-east side bottoms out around 20 metres.
Wildlife and conservation
The Stags are a Special Protection Area (site code 004072), managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and they hold one of Ireland’s most important seabird colonies – including its only known breeding site for Leach’s storm petrel, and possibly for great skua.
Breeding numbers recorded by the NPWS:
- Leach’s storm petrel – 310 occupied sites
- Storm petrel – 1,905 occupied sites
- Puffin – about 1,000 sites
- Fulmar – around 275 pairs
- Kittiwake – about 110 pairs
- Great black-backed gull – around 10 pairs
- Herring gull – about 4 pairs
The season peaks between April and August. Landing on the islets isn’t permitted, and boats are asked to keep at least 100 metres off known nesting sites.
The surrounding waters of Broadhaven Bay are a Special Area of Conservation and hold all five marine mammals listed under Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive: bottlenose dolphin, harbour porpoise, grey seal, harbour seal and European otter. Below the surface, divers find rare anemones (Parazoanthus anguicomus), soft corals (Alcyonium glomeratum) and the uncommon crab Pirimela denticulata.
Nobody has ever lived here
For all their weight on the horizon, the Stags have never been inhabited. The landing is simply too hard: unlike almost every other rock and island off this coast, they were never taken over by monks, pirates or summer graziers. That difficulty is really the whole story of the place – a set of stacks people have always watched from the mainland rather than lived on.
Seeing them from land
Benwee Head is the payoff for anyone not getting into a kayak. The Benwee Head loop is a coastal walk of about five hours along quartzite cliffs and arches, with the Stags in view across the water for much of the way – the closest and best land view there is. Further east, Downpatrick Head near Ballycastle looks out to the Stags on a clear day, alongside its own Dún Briste sea stack.
Practical information
- Access: free, unmanaged, no facilities. Landing on the islets is prohibited to protect nesting habitat.
- Launch point: Portacloy Harbour (7 km round trip by kayak); parking there is limited and informal. Boat and sea-sports trips also run from Belmullet.
- Best conditions: May to September for the calmest seas and longest days.
- Tides: landing coves are most accessible at low to mid-tide; high tide blocks the base.
- Safety: fully exposed to Atlantic swell. Check Met Éireann forecasts and tide tables, and only attempt the crossing as an experienced paddler. Water sits around 12°C.
- Kit: dry suit or wetsuit, waterproof navigation tools, and a VHF radio.
- Guided trips: local operators run kayak day trips from Portacloy; book ahead in summer.
Exploring North Mayo
Use Belmullet as a base for accommodation. To the south, Ballycroy National Park has blanket bog and dark-sky viewing. For more coastal drama, Downpatrick Head – a short drive east – has a blow-hole, a ruined 16th-century church and the Dún Briste sea stack.
If you only do one thing here, walk the Benwee Head loop on a clear afternoon – it’s the one view of the Stags you don’t need a wetsuit for.