Rathlin Island

Rathlin island sits about six miles off the north coast of Northern Ireland and around 11 miles from Scotland. In the spring/summer months sea birds in there hundreds converge here for the breeding season.

The Island is a dog leg shape around 8 mile long and around 1 mile wide, there are three lighthouses at the three points. The south lighthouse is closest to the N.Ireland shore, the East lighthouse looks out towards Scotland and it here that Robert the Bruce hid in a cave close to the lighthouse during the  First War of Scottish Independence against England. He fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotland’s place as an independent kingdom and is now revered in Scotland as a national hero.

Looking across the Irish sea to Scotland 11 miles away from Rathlin. Island..

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Its’ at the other end off the island the main centre for sea birds lies at the West lighthouse. It’s a reserve run by the RSPB and a bus runs from Church Bay out to the centre. The first thing is the noise from Thousands of sea birds fill the air and the other can be the smell that can fill the air if the wind blows in the wrong direction. But the sight you will never forget.

This is the top of one of the sea stacks, covered mostly with Guillemots.

Guillemots on another sea stack,

https://abhainncruises.com/portfolio-items/rathlin-island-trip/

The above photo is from abhainncruises.com and is a view of the west lighthouse. It’s different from the normal due to the light being at the bottom, you can see it here in this image situated in front /bottom of the main building.

The next images will be from the main viewing platform which is on the left of this image.

Kittiwake nests on the ledges high above the shore. These are true seagulls, with non-breeding period spent entirely at sea.

Razorbill, note they lay there eggs on the rock without a nest. Another bird that is rarely seen outside the breeding season. It spends most of it time far out at sea.

Razorbill. A beautiful bird with it’s striking marking on the bill.

Fulmar: to me this is one of our most beautiful seabirds, And to watch them fly in to land is a marvel to watch. They approach at high speed looking like it not stopping, then land so softly. Or to watch them hang on the wind coming off the cliff faces, truly amazing. has the next photograph shows.

Fulmar: Hanging on the breeze.

Fulmar: hanging the breeze.

This is all from Rathlin at this time. Planning a walk around part of the Island soon.

thank you all for viewing, take care

George.

Before I go I’d like to say hello to Evelyn and her mum who chatted to me on the ferry back to Ballycastle. Thank you for taking time to look at some off my images and enjoy your life at university.

ATB George.

https://www.rspb.org.uk

http://www.rathlincommunity.org/visit

Black & White Wednesday

Out early Sunday morning and went up to my local woods, Drumkerragh Forest. A misty view of the forest and Slieve Croob mountain greeted me. Has I set off with camera bag and monopod on my walk, I hoped the sun would burn off the mist. After three hours of walking and into my final mile the sun started to do its job.

This was taken with a Sigma 150-600 mm lens, shot at 240mm. I love the way a telephoto lens can give the appearance of compressed distance between distant objects in a scene.

This area has a large number of ravens around the woods at this time of the year. Walking towards some dead trees just of the trail. Two landed close by on one of the trees.

Missed the first one in but caught the second one landing has seen above.

This next shot is a silhouette shot edited in Silver efex pro, I use this to edit all my B&W images.

Again it contains a lone Raven sitting calling across the valley.

The start of the walk did not look promising from a photography point but I ended the morning with a few good shots to edit in the evening.

Thank you for visiting and stay safe.

George.

Black & White Wednesday

This weeks photograph is taken at Castle Espie a WWT reserve here in Northern Ireland. It sit’s on the shore of Strangford lough, which is a sea lough on the east side of the country close to the town of Comber. The reserve was the site of the old Castle Espie brick and pottery factory. This photograph was take from the  Lime Kiln Observatory which is built on top of the old lime kiln’s.

Looking over one of the ponds in Castle Espie and the mud flats of Strangford lough.

Castle Espie and WWT link: https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/castle-espie#

Camera: Nikon D7200 Lens: Sigma 17-70 mm

Photo data: ISO 100: f8 @ 1/250 sec : Lens at 17mm.

Thank you for visiting,

George.

An evening on Slieve Croob.

It’s been a few years since i stood on the top of Slieve Croob, so with a warm dry evening I packed the camera and drove to the car park at the foot of the service road. This gives a short walk up a steep tarmac private road to the top just over a mile away.  Some things never change has the winds increase and the temperature drops on the climb upward. With the evening still bright I took my first photographs near the top with views across the Dromara hills with the Mourne mountains in the background.

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In the photograph above you can see the coastal town of Newcastle in County Down nested at the foot of the Mournes.

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With the evening rolling in you can see the start of an evening mist forming in the valley’s.

After a short climb up pass the communication masts you reach the top of Croob with it’s stone cairn and trig point.

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The remains of the Cairn on the right and the trig point on the left being lit with the warn light of a setting sun.

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I sat for a while in the lee of the cairn and enjoyed the silence and beauty has the sun set lower in the sky. Starting the walk back down I took a few more shots.

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Some more has I and the sun got lower..

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In this shot the dark line in the middle of the photo is the source of the River Lagan has it starts it’s journey to meet the sea at Belfast.

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My last shot of the evening has I was shooting hand held.

Thank you for joining me on my evening on Slieve Croob.

The Peak District and Yorkshire.

So after leaving Wales I headed over to the Peak District in mid England.

The ride across to the Peak District was an enjoyable ride with a few detours due to road works. When time is not a problem I love detours, on the motorcycle I just take any road and see where it takes me. Sometimes I do this just for fun. I have seen great little gem’s of the country side by doing this or ended up in dead end’s or farm yards. It’s still great to explore to little roads.

So my destination was The Royal Oak in Hurdlow, Nr Buxton, SK17 9QJ,

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This was home for two nights staying in the Bunk Barn.

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The bunk rooms are up the stairs, they are clean and also have a small shared Kitchen area if you wish to cook or just make coffee, tea etc. Toilets and Showers below them has seen in the photo. Because the barn is built into a slope the bunk rooms are at ground level on the other side of the barn.

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Last year I camped here before going up to tour Scotland, saying it rained is an under statement. I never seen any of the Peak district. This year the ground was burnt with no rain for a couple of months.  Wales-1-140.JPG

Where most of my meals where had and a few pints of ale enjoyed. There was a large music festival due to start a few miles down the road. So it was busy and no shortage of people to chat to, it’s the thing I love when touring alone. The people I meet, local and others travelling. Some great true stories,  and others boasted by too much ale. You have got to love it.

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An old Ford Transit motor home owned by a family of festival goers.

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Red tailed bee and a few shots around the Peak district.

The Royal Oak sits on part of the National cycling network route. I walked around 10 mile of it in the evenings. With it being based on old disused railway lines in this area, it was enjoyable to walk and not have any traffic. While walking I left the camera, just enjoying the walk for what it is. Before leaving the Royal Oak I would like to say, Having stayed here twice I would highly recommend this place, staff and service is great and the ale worth trying.

My next stop is in North Yorkshire in the Market town of Skipton. It’s here I have to apologize for no photographs from this part of the trip. When replacing the SD card in the camera, I didn’t push it fully home and it was not till I was in Skipton I discovered it. So a full days photos in some scenic parts where lost, plus photos of a place I want to see for years. the town of Holmfirth  in Yorkshire. Where the longest running British television sitcom was filmed. ‘Last of the summer wine’  the series run from 1973 to 2010. I always want to get a cup of tea in Sid’s cafe, a place in the sitcom. So I made it there and got my tea and thought I had my photographs, So it will be another trip back to see Holmfirth and another cuppa.

Skipton in Yorkshire is a place I have been to a lot, I was going to visit friends there for the weekend and do some walking but the weather there was thunder and lighting storms so with the bike parked for the weekend we went to Salts Mill a few mile from Bradford. About Salts Mill

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The Church where a wedding was taking place.

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Something different from the wedding cars you normally see.

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The sign at the old police station.

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Hockney 1853 gallery , Some views of the work on display in the David Hockney gallery. Here’s Andy adding scale to the famous Hockney chair.

 

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In a gallery being artistic with slow shutter speed.

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Heavy weight reading here in the book shop, detail from the slinging hook used in the old mill. It was nice to see how a lot of the old mill has been restored or just used has it was, like the old stone flooring and other features like the windows and doors.

A coffee in one of the coffee shops and it was out into the sunshine.

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The mill chimney from different views.

Beside the mill runs the canal where we where going to walk but just has these photos below where taken the storms moved in.

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some off the local wildfowl coming to greet me.

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then ignore me.

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Others check the camera out.

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Looking across the River Aire beside the Canal.

It was a drive back to Skipton and enjoy the rest on the weekend with dear friends who always look after me with five star treatment, love you both. I left Skipton with heavy storms looming has I set off for Scotland to catch the ferry back to Belfast. Just made the ferry with minutes to spare, like the last one on board. Supper on the ferry and a mild crossing I rode into Belfast around 11pm and another half hour till home.

Hope you enjoyed the end to my trip  ‘Short tour of Wales’  It was a good trip with kind weather and good friends, old and new. Remember a adventure does not mean travelling around the world or cost thousands. It can be a few mile away and with planning, cost’s can be kept down. So what ever you are into get out there and explore, meet new people and the most important thing enjoy life.

Thank you,

George.

 

 

 

 

 

A Short tour of Wales (part 3)

So this the last post on my recent tour around North Wales. Today we’re of to Harlech Castle or Castell Harlech in the native Wlesh language. This is Wales most famous castle and also a world heritage site.

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First a few links for those that are interested in a little history.

Welcome to Harlech

Men of Harlech  A version of this tune was us in the movie “Zulu” (1964)

Lyrics  Various version’s of the above song.

Has can be seen it was a warm day but great for biking, so arriving at the car park has usual there is no motorcycle parking provided. So a no parking area was used and it frees up a couple of car parking places. Just has we parked up another couple from Germany pulled in along side us.Wales-1-8.JPG

Cable locks secure the helmets to the bikes and with my panniers empty I store my riding gear in them making it more comfortable to walk around in the heat. Into the castle entrance which can be seen in the above photo. With our wallets a little lighter it was across the foot bridge into the castle.

 

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Will leave the photos to tell the story.

 

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A sample of the photo’s taken and photo’s of the two friends I was touring with.

After four days in Wales it way time to go our own ways, With me going to the Peak District in England, another going to the south of England and one back home to Ireland. So a final breakfast and with the bike packed it was back on the road alone.

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a few photographs has I made my way across Wales and below is my final photo and what part of motorcycling is all about.

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The roads.

There is going to be another part of the trip through the Peak District and up into the Yorkshire Dales but that is another post.

Hope you enjoyed the trip in Wales, it’s a beautiful country with unpronounceable place names and the people warm and friendly. That’s my third time staying in Wales and not my last. If you ever get the chance come and see Wales you will not be disappointed.

Thank you for joining me on this short tour and I happy to bring you along.

George.

 

Wagtail’s and sepia tones

With the sun shining and a light breeze I shouldered the camera bag, grabbed a tripod. Car locked and my first chat was with a man and his dog. Some local information is always welcome. I sit here listening to the wind and heavy rain beat it’s tune on the window. I took the following photos last weekend, what a difference this weekend.

First up are a few photograph’s of the Pied wagtail, these were taken while out for a walk along the coast.

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I always hope to get some shots of seals that bask along the shore, but so far no luck. With the tide in I knew they would be out from shore. This one was around 100 metres from shore.

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I got a few head shots but loved the light catching his whisker’s in this one. We have two  type of seal’s around our coast. The grey seal and the common seal with this being the Common seal.

My last one is off the small lighthouses that mark the entrance to Strangford lough on the east coast of Northern Ireland. I gave it an old time look when editing it in Silver Efex Pro. Let me know what you think.

 

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Thank you for visiting.

Take care,

George.

 

Monochrome day

I have a love for black and white images so this week, yep it’s like the weather here. Not much colour with a mix of snow, mist and the never to far away RAIN. So the first image is another misty lough shot.

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This was taken last week, I enlarged the grain a little to soften the image to get the effect of B&W film I shot some years ago.

This next shot was taken with a telephoto lens and edited in Silver Efex Pro2 which is part of the Nik Collection.

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This was taken in the afternoon before sunset with the light coming in from the right and the clouds acting like a large light modifier on the landscape. Also giving a nice rim light to the clouds. This is the Mourne mountains in County Down, Ireland with the cloud covering Slieve Donard the highest mountain in Northern Ireland.

And my last shot I took was of some woods near my daughters home. It was the play of light and shadow on the texture and into the trees that drew me to this shot.

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I edit all my raw images in Lightroom before finishing with Silver Efex Pro2 for any monochrome shots. I hoped you enjoyed the blog, please feel free to leave a comments. What you like or dislike, what software you use for B&W editing or for colour.

Thank you for visiting, liking and your comments. Have a good weekend.

George.

Rising mist.

Was going to sea my daughter and was passing the Spa lough, there was heavy fog that morning but by the afternoon it was lifting. So has I passed the lough I had to grab a couple of photograph before the mist was gone.

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and my last one in monochrome.

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Thank you for visiting.

First sunset 2018

Still cold here with a wind that would cut through you. But it was dry and the sun was out. So took a half hour drive over to the coast on the County Down. With the tide and wind sculpting the sand around the rocks I got these before a rain shower blew in.

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After this was shot the rain started and I watched the first day of the year get overtaken by the dark.

Thank you for visiting,

George