5 Images for the week, Tuesday.
Coumshingaun Corrie Lake county Waterford Nigel Borrington
Irish Landscape Photography , the Killarney National Park – an image Gallery
Killarney National Park
Irish Landscape Photography
Nigel Borrington
The National park Killarney , county Kerry, is one of Ireland treasures as far as landscape photography is concerned.
The basic details of the park are as follows :
“Killarney National Park (Irish: Páirc Náisiúnta Chill Airne) is located beside the town of Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland. It was the first national park established in Ireland, created when Muckross Estate was donated to the Irish state in 1932. The park has since been substantially expanded and encompasses over 102.89 km2 (25,425 acres) of diverse ecology, including the Lakes of Killarney, oak and yew woodlands of international importance and mountain peaks. It has Ireland’s only native herd of red deer and the most extensive covering of native forest remaining in Ireland. The park is of high ecological value because of the quality, diversity, and extensiveness of many of its habitats and the wide variety of species that they accommodate, some of which are rare. The park was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1981.
The park forms part of a Special Area of Conservation.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service is responsible for the management and administration of the park.Nature conservation is the main objective of the park, and ecosystems in their natural state are highly valued. The park is also known for its beautiful scenery. Recreation and tourism amenities are also provided for.”
I have visited many times here over the last few years and hope to return for many more landscape images in the coming months.
On my last visit I did a full image study of Muckross Abbey – of which there is one image in the Gallery below. I will upload a full post next week on this fantastic place 🙂
Killarney National Park – Landscape image Gallery
December by the Lake : an Irish lakeside gallery
Fishing boats at derryhick lake, County Mayo
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
December by the lake
Well Its December and the Winter has truly started, the Weather in Ireland over the weekend was very overcast with sun-light being very hard to find.
I have been wondering how to show an Irish winter in my pictures, wondering what parts of the landscape best show the effects of the cold, grey and damp days ahead of us and the idea of getting down close to water came to me.
Ireland is a country blessed with many rivers, lakes and a wonderful Coastline so over the next weeks I will post many of these locations here and do my best to try to show the atmosphere of these great landscape location during the month of December.
Gallery
Caha Mountains, Healy Pass, Ring of Beara, West Cork and a Poem By : Edwin Curran
A view of the Caha Mountains
Healy Pass, Ring of Beara, West Cork
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
The Caha Mountains on the ring of Beara, West cork, are some of the most beautiful mountains in Ireland, while being no means the highest they offer some of the most scenic views you can find. They sit in the middle of the Beara Peninsula and consist of many walking routes and mountain peaks.
Below the peaks sit many ancient lakes that have only a short distance to flow into the sea.
The Old Mountains
by Edwin Curran
The old mountains are tall, silent men
Standing with folded arms, looking over the world,
Lonesome and lofty in their manner.
They have seen empires come and go,
Civilizations rise and fall,
Stars break on their breasts.
They are full of history like great books,
And are merely the stone monuments that the kindly Gods
Built for the human race, to mark its passing tomorrow.
Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire
Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Tatton park near Knutsford in the county of Cheshire is located about 10 miles from my childhood home town of Altrincham. As a family we would visit the park here many times as kids, spending the day walking around the grounds and viewing the landscape along with the wild life.
The grounds are open all summer and this is a wonderful place to spend a summers day, boating on the lakes or having a good old fashioned picnic.
If you want to get a feel for the county of Cheshire in the north west of England then a visit to Tatton park and the villages that surround it are a great place to make a start.
History
There is evidence of human habitation in the area of the estate going back to the Iron Age. In medieval times the village of Tatton was on the site. This has since disappeared but the area of the village and its roadways are a Scheduled Ancient Monument. By the end of the 15th century the estate was owned by the Stanley family who built and occupied the Old Hall. By the 1580s this building had been enlarged and it was owned by the Brereton family. In 1598 the estate was bought by Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Chancellor of England. Sir Thomas and his children rarely visited the estate and it was loaned to tenants. At the end of the 17th century the estate was owned by John Egerton, Sir Thomas’ grandson, who built a new house on the site of the present mansion, some 0.75 miles (1 km) to the west of the Old Hall. This mansion, Tatton Hall, was extensively altered and extended between 1780 and 1813.
In 1795 the estate covered 251,000 acres (1,020 km2) (392 sq.miles). The estate remained in the ownership of the Egerton family until the last Lord Egerton died without issue in 1958. He left the house to the National Trust and gave them the park in lieu of death duties. However, as the estate itself was sold by his executors, Cheshire County Council committed to a 99-year lease in place of an endowment to ensure that it was preserved for the benefit of the nation. The Trust’s ownership (run now by Cheshire East Council) is some 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) (3.1 sq.miles).
Tatton park, a Gallery
The images below I hope show something of just how great a day spent here can be.
Irish Landscape Photography
A sunset over the lower lakes of Killarney national park.
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
One evening on a visit to Killarney, National park, I was just returning from a long walk after watching the Stag’s in the mountains above the lakes and getting some photographs. I then noticed that the Sun-set was just wonderful over the far hills in the west.
I had about 20 shots left on the card I had, so captured a few images from the grounds of the Hotel.
I have shared some of them before but still enjoy looking at them and remembering this wonderful moment, so here is another one that I wanted to share and post.
Down in the deep water, Image and Poem
Castlecomer lakes and river Dinin, county KIlkenny
Infra-red image
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Down in the deep water..
Down in the deep water
By the edge of the river
Where I ponder my life
Just how did I get to this
Down in the deep water
By the edge of the river
Where the waterfall of dreams
Sweeps away what’s left to the abyss
Down in the deep water
By the edge of the river
Where time stands still
just only forever.
Down in the deep water
By the edge of the river
Where I buried all
That was ever my childhood
Where I let it go,
Where it bends and meanders,
Twisting along as the years went past.
Seemingly calm, but screaming beneath the surface
Were its hidden whirlpools, a sweeping current
Down in the deep water,
I left the edge of the river,
As I looked down
For my soul at the bottom.
Deep in the deep water
Swept away by the river
I drowned in life,
Sinking forever.
Monday morning – Sail boats on lake Windermere
Sail boats on Lake Windermere
Landscape photography by : Nigel Borrington
Monday Morning on Windermere
One September sometime ago, along with some friends we all hired a boat on Lake Windermere in The lake District.
I remember very well waking up on the first Monday morning, we had arrived late Saturday afternoon after a long drive up from north London. It had started to rain the moment we got out of the car and continued all of the day Sunday.
In a small boat you can hear every drop of rain but I remember waking on the Monday morning only to the sound of gulls and other birds.
I opened the door of the boat and this is the view I got, early morning mist still sitting on the surface of the lake but the sun was burning it’s way slowly through. The rest of the week was one of the best September weeks, weather wise – that you could have wished for.
Sailing On lake Windermere, well it’s is just one of the best holidays you can have.
The Lake (Edgar Allan Poe)…
Fujifilm X100
The Vee – Clogheen, Tipperary
Irish landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
The Lake
In spring of youth it was my lot
To haunt of the wide earth a spot
The which I could not love the less —
So lovely was the loneliness
Of a wild lake, with black rock bound,
And the tall pines that tower’d around.
But when the Night had thrown her pall
Upon that spot, as upon all,
And the mystic wind went by
Murmuring in melody —
Then — ah then I would awake
To the terror of the lone lake.
Yet that terror was not fright,
But a tremulous delight —
A feeling not the jewelled mine
Could teach or bribe me to define —
Nor Love — although the Love were thine.
Death was in that poisonous wave,
And in its gulf a fitting grave
For him who thence could solace bring
To his lone imagining —
Whose solitary soul could make
An Eden of that dim lake.
Edgar Allan Poe’s poem: The Lake
Nigel Borrington 
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