There's something about the smell of the coast - a fresh Atlantic Ocean breeze, sunshine and recently passed rain.

And it's the smell of nature after rain that will be very familiar to anyone who spends much time outdoors, even in the urban environment, indeed a typical Irish town will have that particular post-pluvial odour caused by a mix of geosmin from gardens, parks and hedges and ozone from concrete and tarmac.

Of course the smell of the countryside, fields and forests the same.

And that smell has a name, Petrichor which comes from the Greek petros for stone and ichor which was the blood of the gods.

The term petrichor was first coined by Australian scientists in 1964 but has been studied and described for many decades before.

So what is petrichor?

It is suggested that petrichor, the smell of nature after rain, comes about from the release of a chemical called geosmin which is aerosolised by falling rain droplets hitting the ground. Geosmin is produced by Streptomyces bacteria.

And it is interesting that such bacteria produce a chemical that smells so evocative to humans, Streptomyces are the source of chemotherapy drugs such as bleomycin; antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline; and various antifungal treatments.

In fact, geosmin is one of the few chemical compounds that humans can smell with a great degree of sensitivity, much more than other compounds and indeed we are more sensitive to geosmin than many animals more renowned for their olfactory senses. 

Years ago I found a sweetly-scented incense stick from a French company called 'Nature après la pluie', unfortunately they no longer make it but do still produce a room perfume by the same name.

The same chemical compound, geosmin, is found in beetroot and while humans mostly enjoy the smell of petrichor the musty-earthy taste is something different.

Mind you, I do enjoy growing and eating beetroot.

And I also enjoy photographing in the Irish countryside, here a cow grazes on coastal grasses as the petrichor-laden air gently blows across the landscape; rain moves into the distance the moistured sky bearing a rainbow and soon sunset over the Atlantic - the smells, sights and sounds of summer in Ireland.

Smells and sounds do combine with our sight to create memories that are more than just photographs. A photographer and artist typically relies on sight but enjoyable memories are made of more - the company of friends, smell of the countryside, taste of local food, sounds of wildlife and feel of the wind by the coast when photographing waves will cause a single image to stand out in the mind for years to come.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph in Ireland and to learn more about the fine scenery to be found in the Irish countryside - places are available seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Northern Ireland's vaccination program for COVID-19 is gathering pace, with over 700,000 or close to 50% of the population having had at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Some restrictions are lifting or easing soon, for instance an opening of many shops and businesses with schools also returning from the 12th of April.

However, tourism remains restricted with Panoramic Ireland's tours unavailable since mid-October 2020. Hotels are not currently open to non-essential guests. Close contact services also remain restricted and only up to ten people from two households can currently meet up outdoors. And from 12/04 there will still be recommendations to "stay local".

This means that, for the moment, Panoramic Ireland's photo tours remain unavailable to book for any period before, at the earliest, June 2021 including at the Giant's Causeway UNESCO World Heritage Site pictured above.

It has been a difficult time for everyone, especially in the tourism sector, but with increasing vaccination I hope to see you soon in Ireland, in my part of the world.

For any enquiries please contact me via the website as I can take provisional bookings for later in the year subject to availability and restrictions being lifted. These reservations are on a no-deposit, no-fee to cancel basis.

County Antrim's Dark Hedges is by now one of the most famous avenues in the world. Made by a local landowner who planted the beech trees almost 250 years ago to mark the approach to his house; made famous by HBO's Game of Thrones as the King's Road over the past decade.

The fine scene has changed much since this image, in recent times (COVID excepting) most of this long scene would have been filled with throngs of people in on tour buses, as a result the nice and grassy verges have turned to mud.

The trees have diminished greatly, having fallen to storms in the intervening years and weakened as a result of vehicular traffic parking up on the verges, as I mentioned in a previous post about beech trees they do have shallow roots so are prone to damage.

But also, these tall and arching trees are nearing the end of their natural lifespan and even if replaced will take some time to become as grand.

Join me in 2023 to photograph these fine trees.

Of course trees don't just give us large canopies of leaves and branches, they often provide some of the finest flowers such as these cherry blossoms.

This image is from outside of the hospital where I received chemotherapy two years ago, the dark wood of the cherry and those delicate pinky-white petals make for a fine display and one that I was glad to stop and admire given the events of the time.

Cherry trees are native to Ireland, but not the ones seen here. The two varieties are wild cherry Prunus avium and bird cherry Prunus padus, and are mostly found growing wild in the west of Ireland and the midlands.

Still, the ornamental cherries provide plenty of attraction in spring typically in urban areas.

In Buddhism, the cherry blossom or sakura, represents the impermanence or transience of life due to the brevity of their flowering season.