2022 is literally almost over as I start writing this, another epic year for the history books.
As always Panoramic Ireland managed to get outside and photograph through the Irish countryside.
Here are some of my favourite images from 2022.
The year started with colour, lots of it from Ireland's oldest city and Waterford's Walls.
Waterford is said to be Ireland's oldest city, founded in the mid-9th century but with 914AD often given as the real date after the Viking Ragnall rebuilt the Norse stronghold.
It was home to many notable people throughout the centuries, including Thomas Francis Meagher and was the birthplace of the Irish flag in 1848.
Mind you, the City of Saints and Scholars, Armagh, was founded half a millennium earlier in 444AD when Saint Patrick established his principal church there.
And then, into the countryside for natural colour and scenery via a scenic drive.
The mountains were colourful and scenic, here the ridge is under the shadow of the broad clouds, sunshine illuminating the golden, brown colours of the mountain plain.
The journey onwards was just as stunning as the road led off into the distance and more mountains with layer after layer in the beautiful Irish winter light.
That truly was a scenic moment, made special by the sunshine and cloud across the sky.
February saw me out in the mountains again, this time with more crisp, golden winter sunlight and it was a delight.
There was some frost and snow in February and this, one of my favourite scenes of hill farmland of small fields bounded by hedges of trees with (unfortunately) a conifer forest along the crest. Blue sky, small patches of green in the fields and bursts of yellow/orange from gorse in the hedges are a show of the winter colour from Ireland. It's true to say that so many people consider Ireland to be dreary and drab in winter, but not always as you can see here in the image below.
February 2022 also saw me in Venice, Italy - some of those images can be found here.
Then, back to Dublin for some urban photography. Here, one of my favourite Irish buildings and scenes, the Custom House on the River Liffey.
Unfortunately this iconic building had been partially illuminated with the colours of Ukraine, seen here in the arches and reflections, after the illegal invasion of the proudly independent nation by Russia.
As of the end of 2022, Ireland has taken in more than 65,000 Ukrainian refugees who would like nothing better than to be at home in their own country with their loved ones so let's hope for a better 2023 for them and us.
For the first part of the review I will leave it here, with this colourful March image of crocus flowers in my own garden.
Some days later, the countryside was blanketed in snow, here the forest as well as the fields are covered in a good dusting of white.
And another view of the scene at sunset, just because I enjoyed the colours of the sky - those pinks and reds at sunset are to the photographer's delight.
By now of course you will see that I do like colour photography.
I couldn't of course resist heading into the mountains on an epic walk, no driving involved here and I was rewarded with white all around under a blue sky.
Beyond the ridge, this untraversed wilderness in white.
And still March had more to offer...
You might not know that I do a lot of music and live performance photography, here one of my favourite rock musicians, Ricky Warwick, from The Almighty, Black Star Riders and the new Thin Lizzy.
A little black and white photography here with live performance.
Back to super colour from a warm and sunny spring in the Irish countryside, I went for a scenic drive.
Those blue skies...
And the colour continued into April with blue skies over the fantastic scenery of Cobh, County Cork. The small town on Cork Harbour is most famous for being the last stop of Titanic on the ship's voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Here, the colourful and well-known Deck of Cards Houses with their brightly painted facades sit under the lofty spire of Saint Colman's Cathedral. Ireland looks great in spring, a perfect time for a photography tour in Cork.
Good quality repainting of these impressive houses has made the street colourful again.
And a sheep who looks like it might well have just been etching the marks on this ogham stone in the countryside.
Travelling through the Irish countryside, on its small roads is colourful. This is how we get to those scenic destinations, via scenic drives.
Fine, fair weather brought me out to Rathlin Island, one of Ireland's largest inhabited islands, with stunning views back to Fair Head and the Antrim Plateau. It was hot April weather so the North Channel had a haze.
The haze continued, almost completely warping the view across Rathlin towards its East Lighthouse and Scotland's Mull of Kintyre beyond. It was a day for water and sun protection.
Fantastic fulmars in flight and nesting in pairs on the steep cliff edges. Fulmars return to the same ledge on the same cliffs year after year.
It was back to photographing more concerts, this time one of my favourite singers William DuVall who was doing an acoustic solo tour though he is better known from Alice in Chains.
Followed by the legendary Brian May of Queen, touring here as Queen+Adam Lambert in Belfast.
Out west, the summer sunsets were not disappointing in early June.
And the colour intensified before darkness.
Summer definitely has its benefits in Ireland, everything is green and the day length is long. Here is one of my own favourites of stone circles at sunset, it was a long day as I photographed for hours before finishing at a favourite location.
June is a fine month, with lots of colour from plants and wildflowers even in the upland peatbogs of Ireland. Here are a few of the wildflowers that I found on my travels.
First, Cardamine pratensis or Cuckoo-flower with its white-pink flower petals. It likes to grow in wet places, alongside streams or in this case in a wet area of Irish peat bog.
And the iconic bog cotton, Eriophorum vaginatum more commonly known as Cottongrass, this one is Harestail cottongrass. Another native plant to Ireland, in summer the waving fluffy tufts of white stand out amongst the dark greens and browns of the peat bog landscape dancing in an almost hypnotic fashion. A great coloniser of cut peat bogs, it can form large, long lasting clumps that often provide a path through wet ground. There are actually four different types of bog cotton native to Ireland. It often grows with other plants and flowers in peat bogs.
Bog cotton was historically used to make many items, including firelighters, stuffing for pillows, wound dressing and more. Although it lacks the versatility and in particular the strength of woven cotton fibres, it was often mixed with wool for textiles.
There are quite a lot of donkeys in Ireland, one in particular made famous as Colin Farrell's character's companion in The Banshees of Inisherin, but there used to be many more donkeys. Now they are usually looked after by those who care for these delicate and much parodied animals.
Here two donkeys enjoying a fine summer field.
And of course the scenic backroads that traverse Ireland, bringing you to scenes like these.
Drumlins cover much of Ireland, these hills are long and often very steep having been formed by the movement of ice across the landscape during the last Ice Age. Now covered with fields and trees, lots of trees.
