The weather has been marvellous over the past week in Ireland, although some cold air has arrived to bring frost but at least no snow.

Here, on a journey through one of Ireland's most scenic counties - Tipperary, I drove along the scenic road to a famous viewpoint known as The Vee to photograph the view of the Galty or Galtee Mountains.

The Galty Mountains reach a height of 917.9m and are Ireland's highest inland mountain range, most of the country's highest peaks are much closer to the coast.

Panoramic Ireland is working on a project featuring the area, if you want to see more of this region of Ireland send me an email.

Little bunches of daffodils in a stone wall field in the west of Ireland.

Each bunch looks about the right size to make a perfect gift of flowers, ready to cut straight from the field. Daffodils are so colourful at this time of year.

Just out of sight some sheep grazed in the corner of the stone walls, keeping the spring green grass low amongst the daffodils. It makes a contrast to this image of a field full of daffodils.

At the end of March every year, 25th of March this year - 2022, sees the Irish Cancer Society's Daffodil Day where they raise significant amounts of money for their services, find out more about the Irish Cancer Society here.

Perhaps the sheep have a side line as florists, selling to passing motorists.

Join me, Panoramic Ireland, to photograph the famous scenes in Ireland and the not so famous places like this field of daffodils.

With the temperature warming fast and rain forecast, I took the opportunity to walk into the mountains to photograph the snowy landscape.

On the steep road up into the mountains I met a woman, man and their dog, they told me of a long-abandoned village in the mountains; we chatted for a few minutes before I was on my way again walking up that steep, narrow road covered in snow.

Ascending the steep incline to the high ridge, I was almost floored by a strong and constant westerly wind that brought clouds and clear spells minute by minute.

By now you'll probably be quite aware that I have written about sheep before, here is another sheep-filled scene from the sunny Irish countryside in spring.

It seems that during the whole lockdown due to coronavirus / COVID-19 that everything has stopped but life does go own, nature has its own rhythms and the seasons change just like they do every year - although in recent weeks we have seen a very warm spring.

That warm spring means long, sunny, warm days; maybe not conducive to working on images indoors but photographing and capturing wildlife is.

Here is a video of a Hummingbird Hawk Moth in Ireland in March 2020.

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.

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.

Photographing woodland streams and waterfalls in Ireland, the Irish countryside is filled with places like these.

During a cloudy afternoon, Panoramic Ireland headed into the mountains and found interesting scenes of sheep grazing in fields, cloudy mountain sides and into the woodlands to photograph streams, colour and waterfalls as seen here that suited the conditions.

Soon after the weather cleared, as it often does, the landscapes of the open countryside became more worthy of the photographer's attention and we headed into the interior of Ireland.

Join Panoramic Ireland on a photography workshop and tour in Ireland, photographing waterfalls, the coast, Dublin's urban scenes and ruins in the countryside.

Spring is here at long last.

The traditional beginning of spring in Ireland is St. Brigid's Day on the the 1st of February, in the meteorological calendar spring starts on the 1st of March and often the passing of the Spring Equinox on the 20th/21st of March is regarded as the true beginning of the season that sees the hedgerows and woodlands of Ireland erupt into life with fresh green carpeting the countryside and urban parks of the Emerald Isle.

It has been a strange old winter and early spring here in Ireland. We have had a few storms and lots of snow, now it's time for some green as we enter the Irish spring.

Here an image of shamrocks, one of the famous symbols of Ireland in an Irish spring, with fresh raindrops after a light shower with sunshine and shadow.

Shamrocks are said to have been used by Ireland's patron saint, Saint Patrick who used the triple leaf to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish during the fifth century AD.

Each leaf is one but made up of three separate leaves, there are many species of small plant that grow in Ireland that could possibly be the shamrock that is referred to in the Saint Patrick story.

A long day of travel, part way through so here's one of lovely fresh green and raindrops in the sunshine. Suitable for Saint Patrick's Day of course. . . . . . . . . . . . #irish #AdventureVisuals #natgeotravel #travelblog #travelgram #lifeofadventure #canon #vsco #vscocam #natgeo #bbctravel #instatravel #vscotravel #journey #green #nytimestravelshow #saintpatricksday #travelingourplanet #stpatricksday #wheneveryonewantstobeirish #filterra #landscapephotography #nature #natgeolandscape

A post shared by @ panoramicireland on Mar 17, 2018 at 1:47pm PDT

Find out more about my photography tours in the Irish countryside, including photographing plants and natural scenes.