A midden is essentially an ancient rubbish deposit, the kind of archaeological feature that sounds unglamorous until you consider what it actually represents: generations of people sitting by the Atlantic, cracking open limpets and periwinkles, and leaving the shells behind in quantities large enough to survive for centuries.

When the site was first recorded in October 1983, it presented as an irregular spread of mixed shells and burnt stone, already exposed by wind action across an area of roughly 600 square metres. By the time of a revisit in May 2014, the dunes had rearranged themselves enough to reveal two distinct sections. On the western side of the headland, a stretch of midden material running some 38 metres was visible in dunes varying in height from about 4.5 metres at the southern end down to around 1.6 metres to the north. The eastern section, roughly 9.5 metres in length, showed a similar profile, though parts of the dune face there had slumped and were partially buried again under blown sand. The shell content in both sections was predominantly limpet, with some periwinkle mixed through.

Omey Island itself is a tidal island off the Connemara coast, accessible on foot across the strand at low tide, which means timing matters for any visit. The midden sits on a headland to the north of the island, and given how actively the dunes here migrate and slump, what is visible in any given season will depend considerably on recent weather. The dark peaty layer containing the shells is the thing to look for where the dune face is cleanly cut, though stretches of it may be obscured or newly exposed depending on conditions.