I’m taking a weekend birding and shooting around Crookhaven and Mizen Head in Co. Cork and I was lucky enough to get a good shot of a Red-Throated Pipit Anthus cervinus (left) in the marsh at Lissigriffin Lake this morning. This relative of the common Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis (right) breeds in Arctic Russia and migrates to the Africa and the M...

Since 2014 I’ve been shooting thousands of images at the Hell and Back endurance events at the Killruddery Estate in Co. Wicklow. Today I submitted 15 of the best for my Associateship or “A” Distinction from the Irish Photographic Federation (IPF). I’d previously failed with a different panel so it was a nerve racking morning as several panels befo...

Last Monday evening, I headed into town in the hope of getting a shot of Ireland's very partial view of the Great American Eclipse - check out some stunning shots of that here. I don't have any proper solar filters for sun photography so I hoped the clouds would do the job for me - as they did for my shot of the much larger partial eclipse we had b...

Storm Doris was probably still blowing somewhere over Europe when news of her successor, Ewan started popping up in my feeds. Ewan's strongest winds tracked along the south coast of Ireland so it was just a windy Sunday in Dublin. With the wind direction from the south west and a high tide due around 11.30am - about the same time as the wind peaked...

After the drama of yesterday's Storm Doris, I was out early again this morning to capture the waning crescent Moon rising over The Muglins and the Forty-foot in Sandycove near Dun Laoghaire in Co. Dublin. Unlike yesterday's spur of the moment trip, today's shoot had been planned well in advance with The Photographers Ephemeris and it was facilitate...

It was a bit fresh early this morning as Storm Doris passed over Dublin so I headed into Dun Laoghaire hoping to get some surf shots - but there was not enough north in the wind direction for crashing waves on the seafront that I was hoping for. I'd no sooner arrived than I heard on the radio that there were trees down in my home village of Shankil...

Yesterday, Offshoot camera club went to a Point-to-Point in Tinahely in beautiful south Co. Wicklow. It was run by the Bray Harriers hunt. Point-to-point racing is the entry level of National Hunt racing - and, naturally, like many of the best things, it began in Co. Cork with a race from Buttevant to Doneraile in 1752 - according to this history o...

Bulloch (or Bullock) Harbour between Dun Laoghaire and Dalkey is one of my favourite shooting locations so I'm upset by a planning application to replace the former Western Marine premises on the inner pier with a massive apartment and housing complex. There has been a big campaign against this proposal and I got my objection in last month with the...

It was a bit wild at the Great South Wall in Poolbeg in Co. Dublin during the southeasterly gale and 4.0m high tide this afternoon! Updated 9 Feb 2017 These shots taken from the shelter of the steps on the north side of the blockhouse at the base of the pier - be prepared to get get VERY WET from spray on the way out in these conditions!! I us...

As well as shooting the Goal Mile in Shanganagh Park on Christmas morning, I also went into to the Forty Foot in Sandycove to get some shots of the Christmas swim. It was a calm and exceptionally mild morning, so it was absolutely jammers when I arrived. SAFETY WARNING: There are under surface rocks in parts of The Forty Foot that have caused seri...

19 December 2017: Updated with additional pictures from my second visit to Newgrange on 22 December 2016 and minor edits to the text and links. Today, December 21 st 2016, is the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, – and in Ireland, all eyes turn to Newgrange. This 5,200-year-old prehistoric monument is world famous because the interior...

Landscape shots available here. Last Sunday morning, I got out for my first landscape shoot in a while and I decided to keep it local by heading to White Rock at the north end of Killiney Beach in Co. Dublin. Although it’s only 5km from home, this was my first time doing a proper shoot at this popular landmark! And of course, a big advantage of la...

I’ve done a bit of daylight storm chasing in Co. Clare, here and here – and around my local patch in Dun Laoghaire. However, George Karbus’s iconic night time shot of Lahinch during the 2014 storms shows that the “daylight” bit just limits your thinking! So when yesterday’s sea area forecast predicted a north to northeast gale in Dublin Bay – coinc...

Recently, Offshoot’s got access to the Freemasons’ Hall in Molesworth Street in Dublin city centre. The building dates from the 1860’s and it has impressive interiors and a small group of us were given guided access to all of the halls in the building – with no restriction on our photography. You can see a selection of our group’s shots in the outi...

I was in Cork recently when news broke of a Red-flanked Bluetail on Mizen Head. This Eurasian Taiga relative of the Robin was only recorded in Ireland for the first time in 2009 - search with “Red-flanked Bluetail” on Irish Birding for a list of records. This was the sixth record, in quick succession to the fifth earlier in October at St. John’s Po...