The Dark Hedges are one of the most famous locations associated with Game of Thrones.

But of course for those of us from the area, from the fine Causeway Coast and Glens of Antrim, it was always a scenic avenue.

Here, a view into the canopy of those centuries-old beech trees.

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Two friendly Irish donkeys in the Irish countryside, a field of green and yellow under a drumlin.

The donkey, Equus asinus would have been a common sight in Ireland before the age of the tractor, now a rare enough treat to spot these friendly creatures although I have photographed and written about them before here on Panoramic Ireland.

The drumlin is the hill in the background with cows, a drumlin (Irish word used in geomorphology) is a hill formed by glacial action - the ice moving along flat ground and sculpting it through mechanical action.

A mostly bright and sunny Electric Picnic, held in the grounds of Stradbally Hall in Ireland's County Laois in September annually, is now over until next year.

I made the return to photograph at the largest festival in Ireland, this year the Picnic was back after missing 2020 and 2021.

Seen here, enthusiastic fans watching Irish band The Coronas on a warm sunny September evening in Ireland's midlands.

Tickets for Electric Picnic 2023 go on sale this weekend.

I usually do prefer to work with colour images, for more than 99% of the photographs that I make they are in colour.

But every so often I do enjoy a good black and white image such as here in this landscape image of a tumbledown cottage amongst the mountain scenery from the west of Ireland.

Join Panoramic Ireland to photograph scenes like this from the Atlantic fringe of Ireland - photography tours and workshops operate all year round.

Ireland has no shortage of fine mountain and valley scenery, despite having no large mountains - nothing over 1,040 metres above sea level.

Here in late summer, one of many such Irish landscapes, the small buildings with tin roof, rusted from years of exposure - standing out amongst the green of the west of Ireland, mirrored in the bright colours of the rowan berries from the mountain ash in the foreground.

A cloud filled sky creates a light and shadow patchwork over the steep slopes of this countryside scene.

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There is no doubt that the Giant's Causeway is one of the most scenic places in Ireland and it definitely one of Panoramic Ireland's favourite places to photograph.

Here, some of the 40,000 basalt columns of the causeway receive the last sunshine of the day before the sun sets for the evening.

Crashing waves cover the lower rocks during a long exposure.

To learn how to photograph seascapes, long exposures like this join me, Panoramic Ireland, for a photography workshop on the famous Antrim Coast and Giant's Causeway all year round.

Find out more here: https://panoramicireland.com/photography-workshops-ireland/northern-ireland-photography-workshops-photo-tours/book-a-photo-tour-in-northern-ireland-causeway-coast

Such a colourful scene as Cirsium vulgare, the common thistle, provides pollen for the brightly coloured red-tailed bumblebee or Bombus lapidarius in the Irish countryside.

The red-tailed bumblebee is a common bee in Ireland although according to a 2006 NPWS report it was listed as near threatened.

I could have sat and watched, and indeed photographed, these bees all day as they came and went but on I then went leaving them to their industriousness; finding another scene to photograph as the hot summer day baked the landscape all around.

It is interesting to note that the red-tailed bumblebee is reported as being almost absent from agricultural areas in Ireland and yet this is exactly where I found it, the edge of a large barley field in the Irish countryside that had an abundance of flowering thistles at its edge. A good sign hopefully.

The field was a-buzz with bees of different types including the buff-tailed bumblebee that I wrote about in a recent post.

Join me to photograph bees, boats and beaches at blue hour in Ireland on a Panoramic Ireland photography workshop.

The heatwave that has finally hit Ireland has now ended, with thunderstorms over the country.

Temperatures exceeded 31C this week but as of Sunday night thunder and lightning is now the dominant weather.

Here, lightning over one of Ireland's many fine church buildings.

The thistle Cirsium vulgare may be the national flower of Scotland, but they do also grow well in Ireland and Irish bumblebees such as this buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris enjoy the purple flowers in late summer.

Seen here on a hot August day in 2022 in the south east of Ireland, where I found some at the edge of a field which was a hive of activity for these social bees.

Meet Jack the black cat, Cork's friendliest cat.

Walking through Cork, before or after one of my Cork City photo tours I often take time to go out of my way and visit Jack, who will definitely appreciate it if you do indeed stop to say hi.

Join me to photograph in Cork or somewhere else in Ireland.