Ballinesker Beach
'Esker' is derived from the Irish word 'eiscir'. It is one of the Irish words that has become part of the English language and has passed into international geological usage. The noun describes a distinctive landscape feature. An esker is a long elevated, winding ridge of gravel or sand that snakes across the countryside.
The placename 'Ballinesker' literally means 'townland of the esker'. Eskers are glacial features.
How the probable origin of any specific example is interpreted may be a matter for debate but, in general, eskers originated from rivers and streams running in or beneath glaciers. Meltwater from the glacier ran in tunnels in or beneath the ice. Stones, gravel and coarse sand formed in these tunnels either by deposition by the running water or by later infilling. As glaciers melted and retreated the withdrawing ice left a winding trail of esker material behind it marking the pathway of its retreat.
The rock type that underlies the Ballinesker area is dark grey limestone of the Ballysteen Formation. The limestone was deposited on the floor of a warm, shallow, sub-tropical sea during the Carboniferous Period some 300 million years ago. Marine life teemed in the Carboniferous Sea so the limestone is rich in fossils. However, the limestone is not visible at the surface at Ballinesker as it is covered by a thick layer of over-burden but there are excellent exposures of the same limestone around the Tower of Hook lighthouse at the tip of Hook Head on the south Wexford coast.
Glacial events shaped the landscape we see today at Ballinesker. The thick layers of surface deposits that overlie the limestone were laid down less than 80,000 years ago during a stage of the last Ice Age known as the Midlandian Main Phase. During that stage, an ice lobe of a glacier moving southwards down the basin of the Irish Sea pushed on-shore on the east coast of Co. Wexford and extended inland for several kilometres. The moving ice carried ashore enormous quantities of sand from the basin of the Irish Sea. When the glacier melted the sands left behind by the meltwater became the parent material of the Screen Series soils that we see in the area today.
Glaciers are slow-moving rivers of ice. The glacier that pushed onshore at Ballinesker during the last Ice Age advanced westwards. As its leading edge melted it retreated eastwards. However, movement from behind continued to push the glacier forward. As it happened, the rate of melting equalled the rate of advancement so the ice appeared to be stationery. While the ice front appeared to be stationery, the melting glacier continued to drop the load of sands it carried. In this way huge quantities of washed sands accumulated. Muds and silts were largely washed away to the west by the outpouring torrents of meltwater.
Many icebergs and huge portions of glacier were trapped in and under the sands laid down by the melting ice sheets. When these icebergs slowly melted they left depressions in the landscape. These depressions are known as 'kettleholes' and the raised cone-like mounds of sand between them are called 'kames'. When the landscape is pockmarked with kettleholes it takes on the appearance of an egg tray with alternating humps and hollows. While the humps and hollows on an egg tray are, of course, precisely regular, the humps and hollows of the landscape are highly irregular.
Both the steep-sided kames and the kettleholes come in many shapes and sizes. Some of the deeper kettleholes are flooded and form interesting ponds. The area west of Ballinesker - roughly bounded by the villages of Curracloe, Screen and Blackwater - is one of the best examples in Ireland of kame-kettle topography. Doo Lough is an interesting crescent-shaped kettlehole.
When the ice melted and retreated eastwards leaving sandy eskers trailing behind, sea level rose due to the greatly increased volume of water available. Rising sea level eroded the soft glacial deposits and created tall soft cliffs. These cliffs are still eroding and releasing sands. Wind and waves work and rework the eroded sands to produce the area's dunes and beaches. Standing on the beach at Ballinesker one can see that the land to the north is high and the soft cliffs are stable and clothed in fixed vegetation for a distance of some 3km. Land to the south is low-lying and a tall, narrow ridge of mobile white dunes has formed from wind-blown sand at the top of the beach.
Fully restored following the shooting of Steven Spielberg's film "Saving Private Ryan" in 1997, Ballinesker beach is a noted birdwatching hotspot for seeing unusual divers and sea ducks offshore. The fine white sand is rich in seashells especially Native Oyster, Common Mussel, Queens, Variegated Scallop, Wedge-Shell, Horse Mussel, Dog-Cockle, Razor-Shells, Trough-Shells, Common Otter-Shell, Blunt Gaper and Piddock. Starfish and Mermaid's Purses may occasionally be found. Ballinesker is part of the large Wexford Slobs and Harbour complex designated for nature protection (Site Code: 000712). Site features are described and explained by means of display materials in the visitor interpretative centre at the nearby Wexford Wildfowl Reserve.
The kames and kettleholes of the Screen Hills (Site Code: 000708) are candidate Special Areas of Conservation (SAC). The kettleholes support several stages of the formation of bog, fen and dry heath and many plants that are rare in south-east Ireland. Other interesting sites may be found close by. Ballyroe Fen and Ballyroe Lake (Site Code: 000747) are two small wetland sites located approximately 3km south-west of Blackwater. Species-rich grassland at Ballyconnigar Upper (Site Code: 000742) 0.6km east of Blackwater supports unimproved grasslands and some interesting plant communities of disturbed sandy ground. Botanical details regarding all of these sites may be unzipped from the Dúchas website www.heritagedata.ie
The Ballinesker area supports wonderful natural heritage amenities, a Quality Beach and a fine stretch of Wexford County Council's Coastal Path. Please follow the Country Code and support the efforts being made to maintain and preserve these excellent amenities.
