EVEN THE BIRDS LIKE TO PLAY

On a recent beach walk I came upon these gulls appearing to play a little game on the water.  I was fascinated by their behaviour as I had never noticed anything quite like it before. The water was  fairly calm with occasional gentle waves rising and breaking on the shore. They sat on the water with their backs to the waves waiting for the wave to break, whereupon they flew up in the air and then immediately dropped after the wave had broken and passed on.  They repeated this several times as I watched them.

They could have positioned themselves further back where they would rise and fall gently on the waves, but they seemed to prefer to be at the precise position where the waves broke.

To adopt a more logical view, they may have been intending to catch some little fish in the breaking wave.  That’s what I originally thought they would be doing, but they appeared to be making no attempt to dive into the water.

Either a bad fishing day – no fish, or they really were just playing and enjoying the heatwave at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEST KERRY SUNSETS (4)

More pictures of one of the wonders of the west of Ireland.  These photos were taken on Cosán na nEighe, a coastal walk next to Clogher Beach, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry. Loads more photos of this area on my website:

http://www.helene-brennan.com/c25-dingle-peninsula-photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you enjoy the photos. If you like sunsets please check out my previous posts of West Kerry Sunsets.

BLASKET ISLANDS

View of Blasket Islands and Dunmore Head from the slip descending to the pier.

Below is a photo of Inis Tuaisceart.

Inis Tuaisceart, AKA The Sleeping Giant, one of the Blasket Island Group, above.

The Blasket Islands from Ballyickeen Commons, Dunquin.

Great Blasket Island.

Blasket Islands, from Ballyickeen.

The Tiaracht, one of the Blasket Island Group.

The Blasket Islands from The Clasach, Dunquin.

The links below will take you to my previous posts about the Blasket Islands.

Great Blasket Island – Photographs, Comments, Stories (Part 1)

Great Blasket Island – Photographs, Comments, Stories (Part 2)

Great Blasket Island, Part 3

BLASKET EVENING

Thank you for looking at my blog.

More Blasket Islands photos on my website:

http://www.helene-brennan.com/c53-blasket-islands-photographs

A SPRING DAY

It was blooming cold today, considering it’s a Spring day in March. Some of the country is covered in unseasonal snow, and the Dingle Peninsula has a smattering of it on high ground, like here below on Mount Brandon. I braved the cold to take my camera for a walk. Here are some photos taken on Ballyferriter Beach, Béal Bán, and some others in the countryside nearby.

Thank you for visiting my blog. For more Dingle Peninsula photos It would be great if you would also check out my website:

http://www.helene-brennan.com/c25-dingle-peninsula-photos

NATURE’S ART

Now and again I revisit this offering of nature, take photos and with only simple editing, reveal the wonderful delicacy and dreamlike images of these patterns in the sand created by the retreating tide. Nuff said. Please enjoy the images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more of these images, please visit my sand paintings page on my website:

http://www.helene-brennan.com/c105-sand-paintings–photos-

 

 

 

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STAVROVOUNI, CYPRUS

This is my second post about my visit to Cyprus a few months ago, where I of course took hundreds of photos – as one does.  In this post I am focusing on the Stavrovouni  region.

The Stavrovouni Monastery is spectacularly built on the top of a volcano shaped mountain, of the same name – Stavrovouni Mountain, in the Larnaca district.  It can be seen from miles away on all sides. The monastery was originally founded by St. Helena in the fourth century AD, and has gone through many changes throughout the centuries. It is one of the oldest monasteries in the world.

The monastery is open to visitors – male visitors, that is. Women aren’t allowed inside – we might be a distraction for the monks! But no matter – the monastery is not the only interesting feature, as the surrounding landscape is truly breathtaking and worth the trip just to experience that alone. I have so many photos it’s difficult to choose which to show – I may do another post to show some more of them.

If you click on the images individually, you should get a clearer, sharper image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please visit my website, with photos from Cyprus and other countries, and also my paintings

http://helene-brennan.com

 

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WEST KERRY SUNSETS (1)

Here are a few of my several local sunset pictures. As there are so many I have decided to publish just a few at a time.