Native Irish Wild flowers, Early Marsh Orchid , Ballykeefe, county Kilkenny
Early Marsh Orchid
Dactylorhiza incarnata
Magairlín mór
Family: Orchidaceae
Ballykeeffe, Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
Flowering May-July. Tuberous perennial. Native.
Flowers usually white, pink or purple. (Ssp. coccinea has reddish flowers.)
Narrow, cylindrical flower-spike, lower bracts longer than flowers. Sides of lip strongly reflexed, weakly 3-lobed, 2 U-shaped loops enclosing dotted patches. Leaves erect, keeled, usually unspotted. (Ssp. cruenta, leaves spotted both sides) Hollow stem. Very variable, links to subspecies below. Identifications by Ian Denholm
Damp calcareous soils, meadows, fens, marshes, dune-slacks. Also slightly acidic bogs, damp heaths. Declining due to habitat loss.
Nature without words (Horse fly)- Solo images (Ballykeefe nature reserve, county Kilkenny)
Horse fly
Ballykeefe nature reserve
County Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
What do Hover flies and Insect see with their compound eyes ?
Nature Photography
Macro image of a Hover fly
Nigel Borrington
Hover Flies, such as the this one above, look at the world in quite a different way than humans do. The structure and function of a flies eye are completely different from ours, and so they see shapes, motion and color differently. Flies are also able to see light in a way humans cannot.
Structure of a Compound Eye
Compound eyes are made up of thousands of individual visual receptors, called ommatidia. Each ommatidium is a functioning eye in itself, and thousands of them together create a broad field of vision for the fly. Each ommatidium is a long, thin structure, with the lens on the outer surface of the eye, tapering to a nerve at the eye’s base. When the ommatidium receives light, it is filtered through the lens, then a crystalline cone structure, pigment cells and visual cells. Every ommatidium has its own nerve fiber connecting to the optic nerve, which relays information to the flies brain.
Flies Can’t Focus
A human’s eye is attached to muscles that allow it to move, expanding the field of vision and making it possible for the eye to gather more information about its surroundings. Instead of moving their eyes, flies receive information from several different points simultaneously. A flies eyes are immobile, but because of their spherical shape and protrusion from the flies head they give the fly an almost 360-degree view of the world. In a human eye, the pupil controls how much light comes into it, which is focused by the lens onto the retina. The retina then relays information to the brain via the optic nerve. Because fly eyes have no pupils they cannot control how much light enters the eye. With no control over how much light passes through the lens, the fly cannot focus the image it sees. Flies are also short-sighted — a visible range of a few yards is considered good for an insect.
The Mosaic Effect
The best analogy to describe a flies vision is to compare it to a mosaic — thousands of tiny images convalesce, and together represent one visual image. Each one of these pictures represents information from the fly’s individual ommatidium. The effect is much like how we see stippling or newspaper print — up close the image is a lot of tiny dots, but take a step back and it’s a complete image. The more ommatidia a compound eye contains, the clearer the image it creates.
Motion Detection
There’s a reason why flies are especially jumpy creatures that take off at the slightest flinch. A flies vision is nowhere near as clear or effective as a human’s, but it’s especially good at picking up form and movement. As an object moves across the fly’s field of view the ommatidia fire and stop firing. This is called a flicker effect. It’s similar to how a scrolling marquis works — with lights turning on and off to give the illusion of motion. Because a fly can easily see motion and form, but not necessarily what the large moving object is, they are quick to flee, even if the moving object is harmless.
Interpreting Light Waves
Flies have limited color vision. Each color has its own wave frequency, but flies have only two kinds of color receptor cells. This means they have trouble distinguishing between colors, for instance discerning between yellow and white. Insects cannot see the color red, which is the lowest color frequency humans can see. However, houseflies have the ability to see polarized light, but humans cannot differentiate between polarized and unpolarized light. Polarized light is light in which the waves travel only in one plane.
Macro Images – Wolf Spider
Macro Images
Wolf spider
Nature Images
Nigel Borrington Kilkenny
Wolf Spiders are members of the family Lycosidae. They are so named because their method of hunting is to run down their prey like that of a wolf. Wolf Spiders are robust and agile hunters that rely on good eyesight to hunt, typically at night. Wolf Spiders resemble nursery web spiders (family Pisauridae), however, they carry their egg sacs by attaching them to their spinnerets (instead of by means of their jaws and pedipalps).
Wolf spider Characteristics
Wolf Spiders range from about half an inch to 2 inches in length. They are hairy and typically brown to grey in colour with a distinct Union Jack impression on their backs. The spiders undersides are light grey, cream or black, sometimes salmon pink.
Wolf Spiders have eight eyes arranged in three rows. The bottom row consists of four small eyes, the middle row has two very large eyes and the top row has two medium-sized eyes.
Wolf Spiders depend on their good eyesight to hunt. Their sense of touch is also acute. The sides of their jaws may have a small raised orange spot or ‘boss’.
Because they depend on camouflage for protection, Wolf Spiders do not have the flashy appearance of some other kinds of spiders. In general their colouration is appropriate to their favoured habitat.
Wolf Spiders eyes reflect light well and one way of finding them is to hunt at night using a flashlight strapped to ones forehead so that the light from the light is reflected from their eyes directly back toward its source.
Wolf spider Habitat and Webs
Wolf spiders can be found in a wide range of habitats both coastal and inland. These include shrub lands, woodland, wet coastal forest, alpine meadows and suburban gardens.
Wolf spiders are commonly known as household pests as when the weather starts getting colder, they look for warm places to overwinter in homes. Wolf Spiders are commonly found around doors, windows, house plants, basements, garages and in almost all terrestrial habitats. Wolf Spiders do not spin a web, instead, they roam at night to hunt for food. Wolf spiders are often confused with the Brown Recluse spider, however, they lack the violin-shaped marking of the Recluse. The wolf spider is shy and is most likely to run away when disturbed.
Wolf spider Diet
Two Wolf spider species are known to be predators of cane toads. Lycosa lapidosa will take small toads and frogs while Lycosa obscuroides has been noted biting and killing a large toad within one hour.
Wolf spider Reproduction
Mating takes place outside the females burrow at night. Some adult male Wolf spiders of smaller-sized species are known to disperse by air in order to find mates. The male is attracted by scent markings left by the female, often associated with her drag-line silk. Males perform a courtship ritual prior to mating, often involving complex leg and palp signaling to the female.
The female Wolf spider constructs an egg sac of white papery silk, shaped like a ball with an obvious circular seam, which she then carries around attached with strong silk to her spinnerets. When the spiderlings hatch, they are carried around on the females back until they are ready to disperse by ballooning or on the ground. Such a high degree of parental care is relatively unusual among spiders. Wolf spiders live for up to 2 years.
Wolf spider Venom
The Wolf Spider is not aggressive, however, it will inject venom freely if continually provoked. Symptoms of its venomous bite include swelling, mild pain and itching. Though usually considered harmless to humans, its bite may be painful.
Macro Wednesday Dolycoris baccarum (Sloe Bug) – Hairy Shieldbug Family: Pentatomidae
Dolycoris baccarum Hairy Shieldbug
Family: Pentatomidae
A large and distinctive purple-brown and greenish shieldbug which is covered with long hairs. The antennae and connexivum are banded black and white. During the winter, the ground colour becomes uniformly dull brown.
This bug overwinters as an adult, emerging in the spring. Larvae, which are also hairy, may be found on numerous plants, particularly those in the Roasaceae. The new generation is complete from August onwards.
Common and widepsread in many habitats throughout Britain, particularly hedgerows and woodland edges, becoming scarcer and mainly coastal in the north.
Adult: All year
Length 11-12 mm
5 Images for May, Friday
Ok , Today is more of a collection of images than one single image, to close the week 🙂
May and the local farms are getting busy, Irish farms are usually a little smaller than in Mainland Europe, so for some of the work a small tractor is still needed in order to work the smaller fields.
These images are a study of a little tractor most likely still used for many tasks around the farm over the next weeks of this busy month …..
Wonders of nature, Photography and Poetry : The Genesis of the Butterfly by Victor Hugo
Large white Butterfly
Nature Photography
Nigel Borrington
The dawn is smiling on the dew that covers
The tearful roses; lo, the little lovers
That kiss the buds, and all the flutterings
In jasmine bloom, and privet, of white wings,
That go and come, and fly, and peep and hide,
With muffled music, murmured far and wide.
Ah, the Spring time, when we think of all the lays
That dreamy lovers send to dreamy mays,
Of the fond hearts within a billet bound,
Of all the soft silk paper that pens wound,
The messages of love that mortals write
Filled with intoxication of delight,
Written in April and before the May time
Shredded and flown, playthings for the wind’s playtime,
We dream that all white butterflies above,
Who seek through clouds or waters souls to love,
And leave their lady mistress in despair,
To flit to flowers, as kinder and more fair,
Are but torn love-letters, that through the skies
Flutter, and float, and change to butterflies
Primrose – Poem by Patrick Kavanagh
Promrose on the River bank
County Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
Primrose – Poem by Patrick Kavanagh
Upon a bank I sat, a child made seer
Of one small primrose flowering in my mind.
Better than wealth it is, I said, to find
One small page of Truth’s manuscript made clear.
I looked at Christ transfigured without fear–
The light was very beautiful and kind,
And where the Holy Ghost in flame had signed
I read it through the lenses of a tear.
And then my sight grew dim, I could not see
The primrose that had lighted me to Heaven,
And there was but the shadow of a tree
Ghostly among the stars. The years that pass
Like tired soldiers nevermore have given
Moments to see wonders in the grass.
Macro Photography – The Nature of early spring in Ireland
Early Spring in Ireland
Nature Photography
Nigel Borrington
A Gallery of images taken over the last four days here in county Kilkenny and Tipperary, Springtime has almost arrived 🙂 ….
A New Wind farm, Ballybeigh, county Kilkenny
The Mountain of Slievenamon
County Tipperary
Ireland
Nigel Borrington
Wind Farms, Love them or hate them ?
They must be one of the most controversial additions to the modern landscape, many like them but more people dislike and protests against their construction.
Here in Ireland, over the last decade or so we have seen a massive growth in their development with our landscape increasingly covered with them !!
My personal feelings are more neutral than some, I feel it has to be remembered that Ireland has few natural energy resources and sourcing them from around the world is expensive.
There are also much more damaging methods of creating energy than these modern windmills.
The area of the hills above Kilmanagh, county kilkenny is currently having two news wind farms developed, these images below show one of them. The image at the top of this post shows the views of the area before the development started, clearly very stunning!, yet I still find the construction of these massive towers more interesting than not.
Wind farms, I guess – they are always going to be loved and hated at the same time !!!
New wind farm, county Kilkenny
The House on the Hill, By : Edwin Arlington Robinson
The Old house on the hill
County Kilkenny
Ireland
Nigel Borrington
The House on the Hill
Edwin Arlington Robinson
They are all gone away,
The House is shut and still,
There is nothing more to say.
Through broken walls and gray
The winds blow bleak and shrill:
They are all gone away.
Nor is there one to-day
To speak them good or ill:
There is nothing more to say.
Why is it then we stray
Around the sunken sill?
They are all gone away,
And our poor fancy-play
For them is wasted skill:
There is nothing more to say.
There is ruin and decay
In the House on the Hill:
They are all gone away,
There is nothing more to say.
Digital Art work – A December Sunset – Callan, county Kilkenny
Kilkenny Sunset
December 2016
Nigel Borrington
A December Sunset – Callan, county Kilkenny
Often when out for an evening walk at this time of year the sunsets across our local fields can be just amazing to view, the sun is low in the sky all day long in December when compared to a mid summers day. With out getting to detailed this changes the angle of the sun and it seems to make the last few moments of day light last longer. This along with the mist and early frosts that can sit of the fields, haging above the hedgerows is just great to see 🙂
This painting is created using a PC application called mypaint, I have spent the last few weeks doing my best to get up to speed with how to make the best use of it, at first just using some of the drawing tools and ink pens but as you can see – I hope that I am now getting more use to the painting and colour tools..
The paint is posted the moment I feel its finished , I very much like the idea of this as it helps me to close the processes involved and to stop me coming back and over working anything. Its a little hard to describe but its a great feeling to start and finish a painting in one session and then be able to learn when you feel that you have finished !!!
A Winters day on the farm …..
WinterFeed in the barn
County Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
Winters on a farm are a hard time of year, dealing with the weather and the cold, the dark evenings and early mornings. Life as a farmer must have many great moments but its not hard to imagine that there are less of these in the winter months than in the summer.
I took these images while out on a walk yesterday and as you can see, on this farm some of the cows are still out in the fields while some have been returned to their winter shed, soon all of them with be inside. In the Barn close by is stored some of the feed that will be used for the cattle over the next few months. In an area of the barn next to the feed is the farmers haybob that would have been used only a few weeks back to help get the hay bales ready.
The next few weeks are all about rest for the land and keeping the live stock warm and health in the sheds, life slows down and less work out in the fields is needed. While welcome in some ways you can imagine that this lack of activity can at times feel a little to slow but this is farm life.
Here in county Kilkenny each year you develop a great sense of the farming seasons and the activities that go along with them.
County Kilkenny Landscapes, New digital art works
Landscape painting
Straw Bales
County Kilkenny, Ireland
Nigel Borrington
I am continuing to explore the world of digital painting using a Wacom studio art tablet and truly enjoying the creative experience it can offer.
I am planning in the new year to return to real paint and brushes but at the same time I have really taken to using digital media, I will continue to use it both to produce sketch work and finished drawings and painting. The power that digital painting offers to be creative and to be attached with modern social media is hard to escape 🙂 , the next step is to explore how to print onto more traditional papers and canvas in order to present finished work in a more traditional way.
Getting close to the Landscape, Macro Photography
Macro Photography
water droplets
Nigel Borrington
This winter I want to spent sometime getting in close with nature and the local landscape, with a macro lens. I feel that even though the summer and even Autumn are almost over there are still lots of subjects that will be fascinating when captured close up.
Water and rain drops are just such a subject and when we get more frost and ice I will spend lots of time outside in the early hours capturing as many images as possible.
The image above was taken with the help of an LED ring flash gun, you can see the lighting effects produced in each drop of water…..
County Kilkenny landscape : A poem : Over the Fence , By jesse.vanwallene
Kilkenny Landscapes
Over the Fence
Nigel Borrington
Over the Fence
I remember the giant field that was just a house away from my parents’ house and how I could tell what season it was by what it was being used for.
I remember how in the fall the field was used for corn and how in the spring it was used for alfalfa or cotton and how at the start of summer it was used for lazy sheep to graze and get fat.
I remember when there were no crops or livestock in the field and it was just dirt and tumbleweeds and how the desert wind picked up the earth in wild dust storms and dirt devils would race onto my street.
I remember venturing out with my brother, jelly jars in hand, to the center of the field and capturing tiny black and red lady bugs before sun down, just to compare who could catch more before our mother called us back for supper.
I remember how shocked I was when they put up a fence around the field with no trespassing signs posted and when I saw the giant earth movers roaring their engines trying to produce man made hills and lakes for a retirement community golf course.
I remember how mad I was that someone had taken away my refuge and how I took it out on the Porto potties every once and a while just to let out some frustrations.
I remember when the grass came in and the sidewalks were built how quickly I stopped being mad and how we bought frozen blocks of ice to sit on and slide down the grassy hills with on long summer days.
I remember skate boarding to a spot on the course overlooking a lake where I would listen to my music and watch as the wind passed through the trees and over the water creating tiny waves that moved from one side all the way to the other where I sat, escaping.
I remember the smell of the fresh cut grass and the cold sting of the unsuspected sprinklers and the duck families and the old people and the trees and the wide open sky at the edge of the city where storms could roll up or the stars could stretch out further than my eyes could see.
But most of all I remember how wonderful it was to have a place to escape to and ease my thoughts with only the blistering sun or the chilling winds of the changing seasons to keep me company.
Kilkenny Landscape Photography, A Poem : Beyond the gate ……..
Kilkenny Landscape photography
Beyond the gate
Nigel Borrington
An open field gate, they always invite you in.
Just like anything in life when something is open it makes you want to explore !!!!
Beyond The Gate
Beyond the gate
Lies a whole new world
If you want to know
Go beyond the gate
We shall not know
Until we go beyond the gate
Video Landscapes : Mullins mill , County Kilkenny
Frosty Morning at Mullins Mill, Kells, Co.Kilkenny : Nigel Borrington
The two videos below are of the restored waterwheel at Mullins mill on the kings river county Kilkenny.
The photograph was taken back in 2011 but the video only last week.
The morning the videos was cold with a frost and you can see the mist created from the water as it is raised up by the water wheel. it was great fun making these, the motion and sounds created a picture of past times and technology and added a true reminder of the original usage of the mill.
Today the mill is a local heritage and craft center.
First week of November 2016, My favorite week of posting ever …… Thank you !!!!
Irish Landscape
GarryDuff woods
Piltown
County Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
Friday and the first week of November is fast approaching the weekend 🙂
I have been posting on my blog since 2011 and yet I feel that this has been my favorite week of posting here so far !!!
I was able to share a wider variety of the media that I love using to capture the Irish landscape than ever before, I love photography but it was great to also be able to share some video and one of a set of drawings from a visit to Achill island, county Mayo.
A big thank you to anyone who visited and for the many likes and comments I received, I always look forward to hearing from and connecting with you , so thank you !!! 🙂
Have a great weekend what ever you find yourselves doing !!!
GarryDuff hill, county kilkenny, Sunset Gallery
Landscape Videos : A Misty morning on the kings river, kells, county kilkenny
This morning on the Kings river as it flows through Kells County Kilkenny.
I have just started creating some landscape Videos to go with the Landscape Photography that I take and share here on my blog
So I felt what better way to start than filming an early frosty November morning on the Kings River, Kells, in this video you can hear the birds starting to sing and watch the Leaves fall onto the water. The mist created my the cold and frost was drifting down river.
Kilkenny Landscape images : Last Light Of Day – Poem by Mark De Pena
Kilkenny Landscape images
Last light of the day
Nigel Borrington
LAST LIGHT OF DAY.
Last light of day, a golden sunset
Last time to play, but I’m not done yet
I love a sunset, a golden late afternoon
This is as good as it gets, so I sit and croon
Croon about, this fortunate life
Grateful about a tolerant wife
Happy about the things I’ve done
Happy you are, the only one
Last light of day, we anticipate the night
Let me show the way, to pure delight
Let us sit in the moonlight, enjoy each other
Let me savour this sight, let me discover
Discover this person, that is you
Just simply conversin, between us two
Sometimes no words are needed to be said
That might sound absurd, but it’s what’s in my head
Callan, County Kilkenny, life in a small town a personal perspective ….
Callan
County Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
Callan, County Kilkenny – life in a small town from a personal point of view
Today I found myself without any transport other than my much loved bicycle, which has been used a great deal this year, on evening and weekend cycles just the two of us out doors.
By lunch time I was feeling a little trapped and went out again for a cycle, out of the town into county Tipperary, on the way back into Callan I stopped for five minutes to take a look at the moat field and the Kings river.
I have lived in this small town now for well over a decade, it’s amazing how fast time passes.
In my first few years living here, I found that there was some pressure to get involved with what was happening locally and did so, taking part in some local exhibitions with other local artists and photographers, however it almost eight years since these times. In the years that followed these exhibitions, I did wedding photography and portraits along with some commercial work. I also keep up with painting and my art.
Standing today looking across the view of the town it occurred to me that I am much happier now, as in these days that I feel a little less involved with such deep local happenings. I don’t know if anyone else has experience in their lives when moving from a bigger urban part of the world to smaller places?
In a city everything feels much more established and if you get involved with an event then you find that you are only one of many before you who have been involved. Your involvement is only a small part of a much bigger well established picture. You can help as much or as little as you want and it is mostly understood that your involvement is for your personal growth and expression as much as it is about the establishment your offering your valuable time !
To Myself however the biggest difference relates to the personal interests that people have by getting involved in local events in the first place, in the large context of a city most people get involved in order to be self expressive, to help themselves grow personally and to add new elements to their lives, this is all about the self and very little to do with the local town or even others. After all the local town should be about everyone living in it !
Personally!! I found this to be a massive difference when coming to live in a smaller setting, with massive respect to people, most people’s lives are slower here and general activities less available, this I feel increases the pressure on their involvement in almost anything. Personal Involvement becomes deeper and seems to almost take on an irrational level of importance!
As an example I was asked many times to attend some meetings, in the build up to a local festival in the town. I think this was due to the fact I have local family and had held some local exhibitions, one when the town was 800 years old. It was not until I realised that these festival meetings started almost the moment that the last festival had ended, to plan the next year’s festival, that I had some concerns. I wondered sometimes just who could benefit from such an exhausting process? In the end I decided that I personally would not benefit and would only end up exhausted!!
One thing you really notice in a smaller place is everything is about the town , here in my own example “Callan” and less about the bigger general activity you want to be involved in ! e.g. Art or Walking or Cycling. The emphasis is on “Callan” infront of all these things not just , the Cycling club or the Art club !
I can fully imagine that if any one local reads this they will wonder if I am having a go at them personally! , well I am not! All I am doing is pointing out my personal observations and experiences when doing my very best to make a transition from one place in the world to another!!
I don’t know why but It’s a small bit hard to say these things on my blog, however I feel that this is one reason for me having a blog in the first place, so that from time to time I can express personal feelings along with sharing images and the poems that I do share. It is also much easier to do so now as these days I am feeling that in my life I have found a more relaxed existence, a more laid back approach to local life.
I have managed to separate how I feel personally from how well this town is doing or even what the people of this town are doing. How I feel in myself is about me as a person, the things I do or chose not to do. To be content in myself is less about being over involved with activities, things that mostly only keep me active without having any true personal benefit, I have also become able to analyse if it is only others who want to completely benefit themselves from my personal energy and time.
Nigel Borrington 
Nature without words – Solo images (Ballykeefe nature reserve, county Kilkenny)
A bumble bee in flight
Ballykeefe nature reserve
County Kilkenny
Nigel Borrington
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June 7, 2017 | Categories: irish woodlands, kilkenny photography, Nature, Nature and Wildlife, no comment, Solo images | Tags: Ballykeefe nature reserve, bee, Bumble bee, insects, Ireland, Kilkenny, Nature, Nigel Borrington | Leave a comment