Intense double rainbow arcing over Doe Castle and the sands of Sheephaven Bay in Donegal on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way.

Doe Castle dates to the 1420s and was home of the McSweeneys, a clan originally from Scotland who came to Ireland as mercenary fighters known as gallowglasses.

The name Doe Castle is an anglicisation of Caisleán na dTuath which means castle of the area or district - a túath being an administrative area in Gaelic Ireland.

The tower itself is 15th century but the outer enclosing walls, the bawn, date to the 17th century.

It has been a challenging spring this year, the weather had not been entirely favourable.

Lots of rain, lots of wind and not much in the way of sunshine so here a fine day in Aprill by the coast on County Antrim's Causeway Coast.

Photography is always a challenge in Ireland, the weather really can be in your favour or against it but there can be no doubt about it, Ireland is always a fun place for photography.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph on the coast throughout the year.

Ireland will miss having the world's largest off-track motorsport event visiting in 2025, 2026 and 2027 as deadlines for funding pass.

The governing body for motorsport in the country, Motorsport Ireland, has abandoned its bid to bring the most famous rally event to Ireland again.

The event would have seen Waterford, Limerick and Kerry hosting stages of the international race event, bringing international tourists into the south east and south west of Ireland.

It looks as if despite Ireland's long association with motorsport and rallying that racing will be limited to national and local events such as the Galway International Rally.

This orange gate in rural County Waterford will now have to do with only local racers, of which there are plenty, passing by on the scenic county's back roads.

A shame, as the county was home to one of Ireland's most famous drivers - Craig Breen, who died during the Croatia WRC rally in 2023.

Antrim's Dark Hedges are famous for mature beech trees but each year sees several fewer making the iconic road feel less like an avenue.

After scheduled maintenance saw six trees of the famous Dark Hedges removed in late 2023, Storm Isha in January 2024 brought down another three of the beeches.

Large gaps have appeared now in sections of the avenue, and whilst new trees have been planted it seems that the Dark Hedges will disappear for the best part of a century until the replacement beech trees have matured. 

Here, images from April 2024 on a wet and windy day on Ireland's most photographed road. 

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph on Ireland's Antrim Coast or Wicklow.

Calling all artists! Dublin Canvas is now open for submissions for 2024. 

This inclusive public art project started in 2015 with aims to make Dublin pretty by painting utility boxes all over the county, from Balbriggan to Killiney.

There are 68 boxes in Dublin City, 23 in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and 13 in Fingal. For 2024 no boxes in South Dublin are in the artist call.

Dublin Canvas will supply materials such as paints, brushes and €250 to cover travel expenses and food etc. for the day, or they will pay €300 if you supply your own materials.

The call for artists is now live, and closes on Friday 3rd of May 2024. 

More information can be found at: https://www.dublincanvas.com/paint

Chris Shiflett brought his solo tour opener to Ireland last night, March 20th 2024 in the Green Room at The Academy on Abbey Street in Dublin.

Rumour has it the Foo Fighters guitarist was staying in Room 102 at one of Dublin's many fine hotels.

More dates include March 21st in Belfast then Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London.

News updates on his website here.

Metal music legends Judas Priest brought the Invincible Shield to Dublin, Ireland a few days before Saint Patrick's Day.

I was there to photograph Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and the band, indeed you can see some of my images on their Facebook and Instagram.

The rest below in the gallery.

No need for a Panic Attack, if you can get to some select European and US cities in 2024 then you'll know that You've Got Another Thing Coming.

Enjoy the sound of fifty years of metal!

Bands of colour from the Irish coast in spring.

As the days get longer here in Ireland (well, a day is still 24 hours but the proportion of daylight is now getting longer and will soon be more than the length of night), the opportunity to photograph for longer during the day is to be welcomed.

The coast of Ireland is varied and in places is sandy, rocky, cliffy or often a combination.

Here, a stormy afternoon brings fresh winds and plenty of waves to the golden sands of the shore.

Below, a blue hour image from the coast.

Join me to photograph in Ireland, on the coast or in the mountains.

January and February are months that see the beginning of colour in the Irish countryside, in gardens and in hedgerows but also in woodlands.

Here, a little patch of fresh green and white from snowdrops Galanthus nivalis known as Plúirín sneachta in Irish.

As I spent the first weeks of 2024 photographing Atlantic rainforest in the west of Ireland, natural woods covered in mosses, lichens, ferns and native trees - all under the influence of Ireland's relatively mild and wet climate, I encountered these random patches of fresh white bobbing in the wind.

The woodland floor is red and brown, ivy, moss and ferns providing green throughout the winter yet the standout of any woodland in January are these delicate-looking but very hardy plants. Especially in a winter and spring with little to no snow such as 2024. Don't forget that spring starts on Saint Brigid's Day (1st of February) in Ireland.

And there were already a few primroses coming through too. These little native flowers flower usually from February through to May, depending on location. The latin name Primula means first flower and the Irish name Sabhaircín comes from sabhairc which is the Irish word for fresh - little fresh or freshy in this case.

I have written about snowdrops before of course.

More on the woodlands of the west of Ireland to follow.

To join me photographing in the woods of Ireland, including the temperate, Atlantic rainforest use the contact page to find out more.

Ireland’s Clew Bay is home to many islands, but definitely not the 365 that often gets quoted. These are drumlin islands, an extension of the ‘drumlin belt’ that stretches from County Down on the east coast of Ireland all the way to County Mayo here on the west.

Drumlins are small, rounded hills formed as ice moved across the landscape, and here in Clew Bay became surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic as sea levels rose following the end of the last ice age some 12,000 years ago.

Among the many, remember there aren’t 365 islands in Clew Bay, are a few inhabited islands but the majority are uninhabited.

One of these islands, Dorinish, has a uniquely interesting story. In the 1871 census there were 15 people recorded as living on the two islands connected by a low bar of sand and gravel and measuring 19 acres, but that number dropped to zero by 1901. That remained the case until the late 1960s and early 1970s.

What makes Dorinish Island so interesting? Beatle John Lennon bought the island in 1967 with the intention of living his later years watching the Atlantic sunsets and the mists rolling over nearby Croagh Patrick from where the images in this article are taken.

He even took his Sergeant Pepper’s gypsy caravan out to Dorinish.

Lennon leased the land to Sid Rawle who intended to set up a permanent hippie commune on the island. This only lasted two years, the 30 or so inhabitants living in tents on the windswept island, a fire destroyed supplies and tents and in 1972 the commune on Dorinish disbanded.

Despite only returning once more to Dorinish, Lennon still planned to retire there with Yoko Ono, the plan was not realised due to his untimely death in 1980.

Yoko Ono sold Dorinish in 1984.

So the next time you’re in Westport, out on Clew Bay or climbing Croagh Patrick, have a look out for Dorinish, or Beatle Island.