On Saturday our drive took us through the Burren heartland and up to the north Clare coast. On the way we passed through Carran, where the
turlough was very low indeed, just looking like lightly flooded land.
The following two photos were taken from exactly the same spot (within a few metres!) in September 2008, when the turlough was quite full.
We managed to get just about 3/4 lb of sloes, which was not very much at all. But the views from round there are so good that C is always happy to go there anyway - and we do still have some sloe gin left from two years ago when there was a bumper harvest. The blackberries were pretty miserable too - I think it hasn't been a good year in the wild any more than in peoples gardens.
From there we went on our usual drive/walk around the Finvara area. The high point of the whole weekend for C was seeing this sparrowhawk as we drove slowly along the coast road. It stayed there for ages - I was able to get out of the car and get quite close, while C managed to balance the spotting scope on the car window for an even better view.
In the field beside the Martello tower we spotted a late Red Admiral in remarkably good condition for this late in the year. I think I've read that a lot of butterflies have been late this year...