Fortunately the island has very few buildings and man-made structures. Those that are present provide additional habitats for wildlife.
The buildings on the island consists of the coastguard cottages at the Wooden Bridge, two golf club-houses and outbuildings, an Interpretative Centre and a small number of disused toilet blocks and bathing shelters. These structures are not major wildlife habitats but in recent years the number of house martins and swallows using them for nesting has increased significantly.
The [Great] Bull Wall is the longest man-made structure on the island stretching c. 1.7km from the coast road (including Wooden Bridge) to the Marian Statue at the tip. The construction of this wall in the 1820s contributed significant to the accelerated the growth of a pre-existing sand-spit which eventually developed into the island as it is today. The lower part of the wall is inundated by saltwater twice daily and consequently very few plant species have become established. The most obvious are Fucus vesiculosus and Fucus spiralis. Rodents are common among the rocks and the Bull Wall is also the most reliable area to see rock pipit.
The causeway was constructed by Dublin Corporation (Dublin City Council) in the 1960s linking a small coastal salt-marsh (known in bird literature as Raheny promontory) to the main salt-marsh midway along the island. Its construction from household waste and building rubble divided the inter-tidal area in two (north and south mudflats/lagoons). Although opponents to its construction detailed the long term negative impact it would have on the habitats and species, the causeway was completed in 1964. Since then most of the predictions made by conservationists have come to pass. Its presence was and still is highly controversial.
The causeway one of the best locations in Ireland to observe thousands of migrating and wintering birds at close quarters.
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