Youghal, Dungarvan and Wicklow Town have all cancelled their parades for Saint Patrick's Day 2020 due to Coronavirus fears.

And it looks like more Saint Patrick's Day events might be cancelled. Indeed, now Cork City has cancelled their parade along with Dublin.

I'm not an expert in virus epidemiology and I don't have access to all of the information about COVID-19 so I'll leave it up to you to decide if banning or restricting events is a good idea or not.

If you are in Ireland why not still enjoy yourself, if you are looking for things to do to avoid the crowds why not take up a solitary pursuit such as fishing or better still photography.

Join me for a crowd-free private photography workshop in Ireland this year where we will likely only be joined by herds of cows or droves of donkeys or maybe even a pine marten and kits.

For over a decade Panoramic Ireland's photo tours have been providing inspiration, training and enjoyment to photographers beginners and advanced throughout Ireland

Dublin's famous Long Room Library has also been closed as of today, March 10th so why not check it out in Panoramic Ireland's 360-degree panorama here.

Today, the 1st of March marks the start of meteorological spring here in Ireland, it is also Saint David's Day - the patron saint of Wales.

Spring in traditional Irish culture starts on the 1st of February which is Saint Brigid's Day but for weather scientists March, April and May are the spring months.

On the west side of Saint Stephen's Green the visitor to this fine Dublin park will find a grand statue to Lord Ardilaun or Sir Arthur Edward Guinness, great-grandson of the famous brewer and founder of Guinness.

Many users of Dublin's tram, the Luas, will undoubtedly see his sedentary position from just inside the park.

The statue was erected to the businessman, politician and philanthropist in 1892.

The Irish coastline is a spectacular mix of landscapes - from coastal villages to sandy beaches to rocky coast.

Panoramic Ireland's photography workshops have always covered the coast of Ireland and 2020 is no exception, join us on a photography workshop in one of these fine places to photograph blue hour and more:

Copper Coast, Waterford

Galway & Mayo

Clare

Dingle & Co. Kerry

Antrim Coast & Giant's Causeway

Dublin's Coast

Cork

Donegal

Sligo

The Irish coastline is full of variation with long sandy beaches, rocky inlets and geological formations in a compact area.

And that makes Ireland a perfect place for coastal landscape photography.

Here the rocks are carboniferous limestone, in layers that have been long eroded by the wave action of the Atlantic.

We set up our cameras and tripods on the cold winter afternoon, hoping for some sunlight but actually in this case the overcast weather worked better.

I was at this point only a few weeks away from having an operation to remove a cancerous tumour, and during that time it was scenes like this that kept me motivated in my treatment and recovery.

I'm almost a year post-cancer; I'm still photographing, I'm still leading photography workshops and tours in Ireland and you can book a private photography session with me through the site here at Panoramic Ireland.

Send me an email to ask about photo workshops in your area of Ireland.

The mightiest tree in the forest, an Irish woodland.

A recent visit through an Irish woodland saw me find and photograph the mightiest tree in the forest, pictured here.

It can't be done, to cut down this tree with a herring - I thought to myself.

Well, I did find a shrubbery before finishing up on my quest to photograph this fine, green place.

I often get asked about how the weather is in Ireland in winter.

Well, it's hard to say anything definitive but in general, Ireland is green all year round including in winter.

Just like in the image above from the west of Ireland in December.

Typically a winter daytime temperature will be around 5C but colder conditions and snow sometimes occur. The mild winter temperature is what allows the grass to keep its healthy green colour, blanketing the countryside.

The longer days of the year are on their way again, we are now more than 1/10th of the way through 2020 and Panoramic Ireland is running photography tours and workshops to Ireland's beautiful Dingle Peninsula.

Here in the image above, the sun begins to set on the Atlantic, on Ireland's most westerly peninsula with the Blasket Islands lying just offshore.

County Kerry is a favourite location for our photography tours and workshops in Ireland and Dingle is one of the most popular places in Ireland.

Join Panoramic Ireland in Dingle or Dublin for a photography tour in 2020. To find out more, Contact us or use the booking form below.

Just off the track through the snow, I found tracks and what looked like a good spot for a photograph so I headed up slope and into the deeper snow.

Only a fox had been through this part of the mountains since snow blanketed the heathery hillsides with fine, deep white powder.

I wandered for a while, photographed and spent time listening to the sounds of nature.

Exploring Ireland is filled with moments like these and other countless, priceless moments that make a visit to the Emerald Isle so special.

Join me to photograph in the snow, on long summer evenings, with autumn foliage or spring greens.

Saint Valentine, the 3rd century Italian martyr whose feast day is celebrated on the 14th of February is not commonly associated with Dublin, yet his remains are housed in a reliquary shrine in the Irish capital.

How did this come about you might well ask, he was unlikely to have visited Ireland in his lifetime.