January is over, spring has begun in Ireland - according to tradition, and colour is coming back into the landscape.

Winter is colourful in Ireland, the countryside remains green all year round but at the the end of January we see the emergence of cherry blossom, snowdrops and crocus.

The snowdrop galanthus nivelis is not native, nor is the crocus (here crocus etruscus) but both will be found in gardens and the wild now, many varieties of cherry are found too although the wild cherry is native.

Today, February 1st, is historically regarded as being the first day of spring here in Ireland, spring is known as Imbolc in ancient Ireland.

February 1st is also Saint Brigid's Day, Saint Brigid is one of Ireland's three patron saints along with Saint Patrick and Saint Columcille.

Interestingly, the dandelion is associated traditionally with Saint Brigid as it flowered closest to the festival so that is what I have posted here, a bumblebee on a dandelion in Ireland.

This post marks Panoramic Ireland's 500th blog post here on panoramicirelanc.com.

A year after treatment for cancer and I am still posting of photographic adventures throughout Ireland.

The image above is of Cork, the River Lee at night and Saint Finbarre's Cathedral. I photographed this fine scene for Eater, the world's most popular food website as part of their Where to eat in 2020 and Cork was one of the few cities in Europe to be on the list. Have a look at the images and Cork article here.

Donegal is Ireland's most northerly county, its peninsulae jutting out into the North Atlantic with Malin Head being the northernmost point on the island.

And it is a scenic part of Ireland, the coast is long with rocky sections, cliffs, sandy beaches and with more than a few lighthouses it lives up to its reputation as a rugged place.

I do like photographing in Ireland in winter, the countryside is mostly empty and the weather can be fine.

Here it was a foggy day with little chance of a break in the cloud overhead so instead of heading for a big wide open scene we headed for a good little woodland where we could make use of the ethereal atmosphere that fog so often gives.

The beech trees were covered in almost luminous, bright green moss and the forest floor carpeted in red/brown beech leaves, and in between all of that the fog permeated the whole place.

Winter can be cold and monotone in places around the world, but here in Ireland it is more often than not a colourful time of year interspersed with snowy days.

Most of the time, snow is absent even in the mountains except for the rare years.

Here we have the rugged, weathered mountains of the west of Ireland and the Atlantic looking calm.

Winter 2020 is far from over, currently we are having storms but there is still plenty of time for snow like this to blanket the mountains of Ireland.

Deep snow blankets the normally grassy landscape of the Irish mountains as sunset approaches.

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Landscape and nature photography in Ireland doesn't stop just because it is winter.

Landscape photographers enjoy the winter just as much as any other season, there is always the chance of snow of course and the bright clear winter sunlight.

But even a woodland, with trees devoid of leaves can look fine in winter.

Happy New Year, welcome to 2020.

Here is the Moon as it appeared over Ireland on January 1st 2020 at sunset.

My first images from the new year and the new decade.

The sun sets on another day, another solar year passes, the days get longer from now on - Ireland and the northern hemisphere pass the the winter solstice.

In Ireland the winter solstice has long been an important point of the year, Ireland's most famous monument at Newgrange is aligned with sunrise on the winter solstice (December 21/22) - read more here.

Reflected in the western beach Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way greets the colourful sunset, beaming from sheeny sands.