Derriana lake – County Kerry
Derriana Lodge, County Kerry
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Derriana Lake, a home for two weeks
On the 31st of July I reached the fine age of 50 and along with friends and family we went to Kerry for two weeks. Staying in a self-catering lodge called Derriana lodge
I would very much like to say thank you to family and friends for making the time spent away just brilliant and also some of you noticed my birthday date from my face-book page, so I would like to say thank you for sending me Happy Birthday messages !
The lodge is just a wonderful place to stay as its located above Derriana Lake, county Kerry, the below images are just some that I took during the two week’s. You have already seen some of the others from my posts during the two weeks away.
I will post more !
Thank you to everyone again for such a great time !
Panoramic views of the Lodge and Lake
Image Gallery of the Lake
Its the weekend so….
Canon G1x
Derriana lake, county Kerry
Landscape photography by Nigel Borrington
It the weekend so, why not find a place to walk a place to relax and a place to stay and watch the sun go down over a lake.
Puffins on Skellig Michael, County Kerry
Images using a Canon G1x
Puffins on Skellig Michael, county Kerry
Irish Wildlife images by Kilkenny based photographer : Nigel Borrington
On a very recent trip to the Skellig islands I got lots of images of the puffins that nest here in large numbers each year, Ireland has two large populations of Puffins, one here and the other the Saltee islands of the Wexford coast line.
When you visit both these locations, it is very hard to be perfectly honest to miss getting great images of these birds. They are very trusting of humans and can get very close to you, so even with a camera like the Canon G1x you can get some very good images. These are just two and I got lots more.
They are a lot smaller than you may think if you have never seen them in the flesh, it’s when you see them in flight that they are at their most impressive.
Cahergall ring fort, County Kerry
All Images : Canon G1x
Irish ring forts, Co.Kerry
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Cahergall Ring fort
Following on from yesterdays post relating to Leacanabuile ring for in county Kerry, the area around the fort also contains more ring forts from the same period in Irish history.
Cahergall ring fort is a massive stone construction, built between 400BC and 500AD, It can be found close to Cahersiveen, County Kerry. Leacanabuaile feels very much more like a dwelling place for people to both live and keep themselves safe from the surrounding Environment. This included raiders and wild animals stealing cattle.
On approaching Cahergall, the scale of this fort is massive in comparison to Leacanabuaile, the walls rise some four to six meters from the ground, perfectly flat and sloping inwards from the ground towards the top. The fort is some twenty five meters wide and the walls some four meter thick.
Inside the fort the inner walls are stepped and consisting of three levels, each of these levels has a series of steps that take you the upper level. The top of the wall is full grassed and walkable. The views of the coastline and landscape around the fort is spectacular from here.
Although this fort is described as a living place, it is very different from other forts around, It has only one internal enclosure and this structure does not look like it could be lived in, at least not in the same way as the buildings within the other forts.
The semi-circular wall’s forming a circle in the center of the fort appear to be very much the focus point from the main walls, almost like this place was a ceremonial theater of some kind. You have to ask why the very different design for this place compared to the other forts and why it was built on such a grand scale. It is very much the focus point for the local community in the same way a church or public building would be today.
As to who these people where, Pat Flannery has some very interesting ideas and his views on Irish per-christian history is very interesting :
http://www.patflannery.com/IrishHistory/TheMilesians.htm
Cahergall Fort has been restored by the OPW and is owned by the Irish State.
Cahergall is well worth a visit if you are in the area and only short distance from Leacanabuaile Stone Fort.
Image Gallery
Leacanabuaile, stone ring Fort, Co.Kerry
All Images : Canon G1x
Irish ring forts, Co.Kerry
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Leacanabuaile, ring Fort
Sitting on a hill side near Cahersiveen in County Kerry is Leacanabuaile Stone Fort, it is considered one of the best examples of an Irish ring fort.
The name translates to ‘Hillside of the Summer Pasturage’.
This is a magical place and just the kind of prehistory site I love to be in and photograph.
This is the Ireland I have been searching for, this site predates the Irish christian period, and is a period in Irish history that is little covered and has been swallowed up by post christian teaching.
On researching this site I came across this link from Pat Flannery:
http://www.patflannery.com/IrishHistory/TheMilesians.htm
Having visited Leacanabuaile ring fort, I feel that there is some credibility to Pats views on Irish history. The site is located only a few fields in from the Kerry coast-line, it is very believable that the area around this ring fort is the landing site for peoples who settled here.
The Milesians
Around 1500 B.C. the Milisians who came from the Middle East and the Ionian sea came to Kerry in Ireland.
The most interesting thing about all these peoples is that they were Ionian people who were seafarers and thrived much, much earlier than the Celts who were totally Continental and not very good seafarers, rather like the Swiss.
The Irish language and customs would seem to support a close affinity with ancient Greece, the Middle East and Persia. Their heroic stories of warriors and chariots for example are very similar.
Spain and Portugal was merely a stepping off point for the sea journey north to Ireland, but scholars have confused the much later Iberian Celts with the Milesians. Apart from the fact that Celts did not occupy any part of Spain or Portugal until long after the Milesians, believing that everybody who came from Spain was Spanish, let alone Celtic, is similar to the belief of many Americans that their Irish ancestors came from County Cork simply because that’s where their ships left from.
Ring forts
Wikipedia description of ring forts : Ring forts
Excavation of Leacanabuaile
An archaeological excavation uncovered iron knives and mill stones suggesting the existence of an early farming community here. Standing atop the outer walls which are up to 3 metres thick, its great to imagine how the fort looked and how people lived in the past.
Image Gallery
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Cahergall – ring fort
The area around Leacanabuaile also contains Cahergall – ring fort, an even more impressive fort and I will post about this very soon.
Old Barracks, Cahersiveen, Co.Kerry
Canon G1 x
Old Barracks,Cahersiveen, Co.Kerry
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Old Barracks,Cahersiveen, Co.Kerry
The Barracks was constructed between 1870 and 1875 and served as the Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks. It has an interesting history which can be further looked at in the information page.
Today it serves as a Heritage Centre for the Iveragh Peninsula. It is home to various exhibitions that relate to the local area, including The Great Southern and Western Railway, The Life and Times of Daniel O’Connell, The Fenin Rising of 1867, The 1916 Rising and Monsignor Hugh O’ Flaherty (The Scarlet Pimpernel).
Sunday evening in the mountains
Mountain views of Country Kerry
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
In My Dreams I was traveling, Probably in my car, through the hills of Kerry, little valleys where everyday life is lived, A voice reproached me for squandering my time on trifles , instead of writing about the essence of life, which is such a so-ness.
Probably all my voyages in dreams have a model in one, very real, by car from cork to Kerry, A boggy road with ruts, always either up or down, stubble fields on the hills in the rain, here and there a spruce grove, then alders by streams,huts,well-sweeps.
Taken from : Czeslaw Milosz
Sunday evenings, time for some sunset thinking.
Fujifilm x100, 35mm lens, iso 100
Lower Lake of Killarney, County Kerry
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Sunday evenings are to myself the end of another week, they mark a time to clear your mind. To think about a new week and to define the end of the last, what-ever happened last week (good or bad) has gone.
It time for some ……..
Sunset Thinking
Do you ever watch the sunset
And just sit and think about things
Just you and the sky and darkness
Giving your thoughts some wings
Perhaps you’ve got some troubles
And don’t know what to do
Or you just plain need to get away
To spend a little time with you
Sunset beauty makes you feel as though
Your life has meaning after all
To see a sight so extraordinary
Makes you feel capable, strong and tall
It’s funny how flashes of color
Like a sunset or sunrise can inspire
It can calm your inner self a bit
It’s a scene you can never tire
The serenity gives you a chance
To put things in perspective
Life can be overwhelming at times
And a sunset can be reflective
So when the sky lights up next time
Let your gaze do some drinking
Soak up all the amazing sights
And do some sunset thinking!
Written by : Marilyn Lott
Images from the Blackwater river
Sigma sd15,15-30mm f3.5-4.6 lens, iso50
Images of the Blackwater river, Munster, Ireland
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
The Blackwater river
One of my favourite river’s in Ireland is the Blackwater, it flows from Co.Kerry all the way to Youghal Harbour, on the south coast.
“The Blackwater or Munster Blackwater (Irish: An Uisce Dubh, The Black Water) is a river which flows through counties Kerry, Cork, and Waterford in Ireland. It rises in the Mullaghareirk Mountains in County Kerry and then flows in an easterly direction through County Cork, through Mallow and Fermoy. It then enters County Waterford where it flows through Lismore, before abruptly turning south at Cappoquin, and finally draining into the Celtic Sea at Youghal Harbour. In total, the Blackwater is 169 kilometres long.
The Blackwater is notable for being one of the best salmon fishing rivers in the country. Like many Irish and British rivers, salmon stocks declined in recent years, but the Irish Government banned commercial netting of salmon off the coast of Ireland in November, 2006.”
Lisomre
Sigma sd15,15-30mm f3.5-4.6 lens, iso50
Images of the Blackwater river, Lismore, Munster, Ireland
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
As it passes just below Lismore Castle ( Which I will do another full post on ), it has carved out one of the most Beautiful river valley’s in the south of the country. I have many images from this area and visit regularly so will come back many time to post some more images.
Sigma sd15,15-30mm f3.5-4.6 lens, iso50
Images of the Blackwater river, Munster, Ireland
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Sigma sd15,15-30mm f3.5-4.6 lens, iso50
Images of the Blackwater river, Munster, Ireland
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Its the weekend so……
Fuji X100, 28mm lens, iso 100
County Kerry coast-line ,
Irish Landscape photography:Nigel Borrington
It’s the weekend so if you can find a place with a view and lose yourself in it…..
I walk at the lands edge
Nikon D700
Poem by : Kathleen Jamie
I walk at the land’s edge,
turning in my mind
a private predicament.
Today the sea is indigo.
Thirty years an adult –
same mind, same
ridiculous quandaries –
but every time the sea
appears differently: today
a tumultuous dream,
flinging its waves ashore –
Nikon D700
Nothing resolved,
I tread back over the bog
– but every time the bog
appears differently: this evening,
tufts of bog-cotton
unbutton themselves in the wind
– and then comes the road
so wearily familiar
the old shining road
that leads everywhere
Nikon D700
.
Nigel Borrington 
Kerry Sea-eagles project
Sea eagles over Derriana lake, county Kerry
Landscape and nature photography : Nigel Borrington
When we first arrived at the lodge house in Kerry, Zoe the very friendly and helpful women who looks after the house told us about the Kerry sea-eagles project. She also informed us that even though they had not been seen for a couple of weeks, we did stand a great chance of spotting them.
Well one morning while walking Molly our golden retriever down to the banks of the lake, there they were soaring above the water. We watched them for about 15 minutes before they headed back towards the coast at Waterville.
I will never forget the sight of these birds just soaring high above us, well done to the people in the Kerry eagle project for reintroducing these wonderful birds to the Irish landscape.
Kerry Eagles project
Not everyone has welcomed them back to Ireland local Farmers for one, but they need to look at just how much money they bring into Scotland’s Islands since they were re-introduced, almost three million per year just because tourists come to get a view of them, above the hill’s of Mull and Skye.
Eagle on the isle of skye
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August 14, 2013 | Categories: Comment, Gallery, Landscape, Nature and Wildlife, Nigel Borrington | Tags: derriana lake, fujifilm X100, irish eagles, Irish photography, irish wildlife, kerry, kerry eagles project, Landscape, Nigel Borrington | 9 Comments