— Tess Leak and Sharon Whooley
The Museum of Birds & Beasts
“A museum should work in its capacity to reveal the humanity of individuals… In museums we have history, but what we need are stories.” Orhan Pamuk
“Diagram by Ciarán Ó Siothcháin’s, Oilean Chléire depicting how the height of the sun was gauged to calculate the time remaining before sunset. The width of four fingers between the sun and the horizon meant one hour until sunset. Each finger accounted for fifteen minutes so that, using both hands, the last two hours before sunset could be measured in fifteen minute intervals.” (Cormac Levis) Courtesy National Folklore Collection.
The Museum of Birds and Beasts is a participatory arts project co-created by artists Tess Leak and Sharon Whooley which has been gathering stories relating to animals, birds and folklore from all of the West Cork Islands since Spring 2024. Supported by the Creative Places West Cork Islands partnership, Tess and Sharon have met with islanders on Oileán Chléire, Sherkin, Heir, Dursey, Whiddy, Bere and Long Island, along with former residents and descendants of the now un-inhabited Horse Island, Calf Islands and the East and West Skeams.
The West Cork islands are unique environments where most traditional farming methods were carried out right up until the 1970s. Animal life was intrinsically linked to human life, and a donkey and horse were as necessary as a car is today. These stories are a gathering of collected memories, of land animals and sea mammals that shared the journey, of much loved horses and donkeys, wise goats and collies. There’s Lizzie’s marvellous collie dog on Heir Island who swam the cows over to Cunnamore Pier, Flame the lion cub, rescued from a bombed-out theatre in London, that visited the school children on Sherkin island in the 1940s and Blackie the cat who arrived at the door of Catherine Crowley on Middle Calf island on the morning of 18th January 1909 after being washed ashore from the shipwreck of the Savonia from Nova Scotia.
Pat Con O’Driscoll, Oileán Chléire
I grew up on Cape. I was fifteen years old when I first went fishing. The boat was called the Gilda Rose. We would fish for cod and haddock, plaice and whiting. There were five or six of us on the boat and my job was to cook for the men. I would have met fishermen from other countries, Dutch, French and Spanish men and knew the names of the fish in Spanish.
In the 1950s and ‘60s you would navigate using landmarks like someone’s house, lining up buildings to find your way. There was no GPS then! At night you would just use the compass, light from the lighthouse and landmarks.
Tim O’Leary mending nets on the pier, Whiddy 1981 IMAGE Kevin O’Farrell
Tim and Rose O’Leary, Whiddy
The 8th of December was when the islanders would sell the live turkeys in Bantry and each family would have about two dozen to sell. There would be a bit of an auction in Bantry for them. Every family had their own boat to take out their turkeys for the fair. I remember our Aunt Ellie talking about the 1930s and how it was the grandest sight to see the turkeys, they’d be gathered and gobbled and headed down the road on the island and that was your money then for Christmas.
Lizzie O’Connor’s father Timmy Cahalane and son Turlough O’Connor on Sherkin (3)
Lizzie O’Connor, Heir and Sherkin Island
My grandfather lived with us in the house in Heir Island. He was known as Stormy Mike and was a big man, I thought he was the bee’s-knees. When I was nine and a half we moved to Sherkin. We had a donkey, the gentlest of donkeys and every morning he would sit down in the bog as we used to call it and my father would light the fire and of course the smoke would come out of the chimney. The donkey would see the smoke and up he’d trot. And he would give a ‘Hee-haw, Hee-haw’ and my father would bring him out a slice of bread and jam and he loved it.
Tess Leak and Sharon Whooley
Tess Leak is an interdisciplinary artist who has worked with the Arts for Health Programme, West Cork and in community contexts since 2010. Sharon Whooley is a filmmaker with Harvest Films, working as writer, producer and director. They have founded a number of Museum-form projects such as The Museum of Miniature, the People’s Museum of Skibbereen and the Museum of Making and Mending. In April 2020, at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, they created the Museum of Song Postal Project collecting songs and stories and connecting with over 120 older people throughout West Cork, on the islands, the valleys of Bantry, the Beara peninsula, the London Irish Pensioners Choir and new members of the community from Ukraine. The resulting collection of songs and letters was donated to the permanent collection of the Irish Traditional Music Archive in April 2025.
The first iteration of the Museum of Birds and Beasts took place in community hospitals in West Cork in 2022. The artists collaborated with master basket maker Joe Hogan and the Museum of Country Life and the National Folklore Collection, utilising the folklore and evocative artefacts from these remarkable national collections to draw on participant’s experiences of working and living in connection with the natural world.