Mountain rescue incidents rose significantly from April-June on account of good weather and another staycation summer.
60 incidents were recorded from January-March, but that has risen significantly with 102 callouts nationwide from April-June.
Liam McCabe of the South East Mountain Rescue Association says it has been a busy period, as people have found amenities in their area that they may previously not have used.
While it has been a busy time, he says it's great to see people heading for the hills.
"In the whole country, we're a significant increase in the number of people on the hills. It's good weather bringing people out, but a lot of people have found the hills - particularly in the South East. We have a lot to offer here in the South East. It's great to see more people using the fantastic mountains that we have."
Liam says that the type of incidents which South East Mountain Rescue are being tasked to are a 'mixed bag'.
"It's a mixed bag. We find ourselves dealing with significant trauma injuries, medical emergencies and quite a lot of missing persons as well. As the numbers have gone up, we've seen a rise in cases in every category. It isn't just new entrants that find themselves in trouble on the hills."
Statistics for the first half of 2021 from #mountainrescueireland. pic.twitter.com/woETSkYOF0
— SE Mountain Rescue (@SE_Mount_Rescue) July 31, 2021
With winter on the horizon, South East Mountain Rescue are expecting a significant increase in their night time call-outs.
Figures show that only 1 in 4 rescues from April-June occurred at night.
SEMRA advise people to be prepared heading for the hills, and that we are losing an hour of daylight every month.
"Three quarters of rescues were during the day. One quarter were during the night. We're definitely going to see a change in that. With long days, most of our calls are in daylight hours. We'll find now as things push on, every month we're losing an hour. People will misjudge it. What would have been safe to do 3-4 weeks ago, may not be fine soon."
