North Atlantic Skyline » forest http://johnsmyth.ie/blog Despatches from the West of Ireland. Fri, 18 May 2012 23:53:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Beech http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/10/30/beech/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/10/30/beech/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:01:21 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=1915 beech-tree-1
A beech tree photographed 2 weeks ago in Portumna Forest Park. The leaves had yet to turn – a sign of the mild weather this October.

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/10/30/beech/feed/ 0 Brokeback forest http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/06/23/brokeback-forest/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/06/23/brokeback-forest/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:24:25 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=1432
A young oak tree in Monivea Woods, east Galway. The Ffrench family willed their estate, which included a mature broadleaf forest, to the ownership of the nation on the condition that the trees not be felled. The state subsequently levelled it. It’s mostly conifers now, courtesy of Coillte.

Camera = Canon 350D (converted to infrared only), lens = Sigma 10-20mm@10mm, aperture= f9, speed=1/250 sec, ISO100.

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/06/23/brokeback-forest/feed/ 0 Firestarters http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/04/07/firestarters/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/04/07/firestarters/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:01:09 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=1081

Bog fire between Spiddal and Moycullen on Sunday evening.

The weather was fine for most of last week. Though there are still many pools of water to be found on all of the bogs in Connemara, the undergrowth has become quite dry. Unfortunately, the dry weather means that the season for bogfires has begun. I can’t see the point really – most bogs are worked with machines now[tractors, diggers, etc], so clearing the heather and grass is a simple task. Instead, certain landowners light fires that almost inevitably burn out of control.

At the very least, fire crews are called out to manage and contain the fires – at worst, machines, woodland, houses and even power supplies are endangered. This fire took place very close to the location, and almost 2 years to the day as this fire, near Moycullen (there is a large expanse of bog and woodland that straddles the hills that separate Moycullen from Spiddal and the sea).

The fireline approaching a planted forest between Moycullen and Spiddal.

]]> http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/04/07/firestarters/feed/ 0 Rolling In http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/02/13/rolling-in/ http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/2009/02/13/rolling-in/#comments Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:01:27 +0000 John Smyth http://johnsmyth.ie/blog/?p=792
Snow clouds roll in over a forestry plantation in Kilglass in east Galway (it began snowing a few minutes after I took this picture last week)

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