This is the view from the summer house at Laugharne Castle in south Wales which we visited last year. The window overlooks the Taf Estuary. Dylan Thomas, the famous welsh author is supposed to have used the summer house to write. And the view is certainly inspiring.
Summer house at Laugharne castle
Inspired by this week’s Lens-artist photo challenge – Window with a view
The Mayo coast is one of those places special spots. The north and far north western corners of the coast are a bit off the beaten track. Back in November we had the opportunity to do part of the Carrowtige Loop walk. The full walk is over 10km long but it is possible to do shorter loops (of about 3km), which we did. The walk offers spectacular views of Broadhaven bay, the Atlantic ocean and majestic sea cliffs.
Atlantic ocean with Kid island in the background
We were lucky to have got one of those bright winter days but the wind coming from the ocean was bracing to say the least. In the distance of the photo below you can see the Stags of Broadhaven, some rocky outcrops that jut into the Atlantic.
Coastal cliffs and sea stacks
The surrounding landscape is bogland, a rare and important habitat and an important carbon sink in a time of climate change.
Carrowtige is Ceathrú Thaidhg in Irish. Ceathrú means quarter or quarterland and Thadhg is the name of a person.
Kid island is grazed by sheep – how the farmers get them onto this rocky island is a bit of a mystery to me!
Kid island
A beautiful place
Choosing some of my favourite photographs of the year is not that easy. Where to start?
This image is from January 2019, from the west coast of Ireland. The light on the west coast is pretty special.
West coast Ireland
Then daffodils – what is there not to like as they herald the start of spring. I was particularly pleased with this image, which I darkened a little from the original.
Spring also brings blossom – against the blue sky, it just says happiness to me.
And springs brings with it one of my favourite animals, our beautiful bumblebees. I take lots of photos of bees and it is hard to choose one. Here the common carder bee on a vetch flower.
Common carder
We were lucky to visit two wonderful places this year. First The Burren in County Clare in late August. I just loved all the wildflowers and limestone landscape and walls.
The second place was Inishbiggle, a tiny island off the west coast of Ireland.
And at the end of the summer my favourite butterfly image.
Peacock
With the return of autumn and winter we again get that wonderful light along the coast.
And two photos to finish – an abstract.
And a black and white
A huge thank you to the four lens artists (Ann-Christine, Amy, Tina and Patti) who give us the lens artist challenge each week.
Again I find myself reminiscing about last summer. The day we visited the National Botanic Garden of Wales was probably the hottest and sunniest of them all – so not the best day to photograph the amazing displays of flowers in the gardens.
One of my favourite areas was this planted wheat field with traditional “weeds” – in other words flowers – this is how wheat would have grown in the past before chemicals.
Botanic Gardens, Wales
I used the pop setting on the camera to get some interesting affects.
Botanic Gardens, Wales
Inspired by Lens artist photo challenge – on display
Last night I had a dream about butterflies and bees – I think I am nostalgic for the summer.
We have had a few cold frost mornings the last few weeks. The one advantage of a frosty morning is usually a bright start to the day.
Of course there is noting more magical than snow, we haven’t had any yet this winter.
We don’t get it very often here on the west coast of Ireland but we love it when we do.
