Catching up

 Before it gets to be time for a May Favourites card post, I am badly behind with regular photos. 

From the bird reserve: 

There was a large assortment of bird houses installed in the trees. I'm not sure how many of them birds actually nest in , but they were certainly very picturesque, and no two the same. 

There are a few more in the small album I uploaded from that visit - https://photos.app.goo.gl/vJ2abze7sbmw8Vb56

Mid month I went down to my sister for a weekend. She works a half day on Friday, so in the afternoon we went to visit a military fort which had recently re-opened. It was interesting - a large part of it is underground - partly because it was a safe environment for storing the gunpowder. A lot of the original floors were wood, for the same reason. The volunteer who led us through the tunnel part said that as far as they know, the horses bringing the gunpowder from Ballincollig Gunpowder Mills would have been unshod, to avoid the risk of sparks from shod hooves on the road, so they were then rested for a day or two before their return journey back to Ballincollig. 

We had a great view across the bay to my sister's office, and also to Cobh, which was the last port before America for  many trans-Atlantic ships including the Titanic and the Lusitania .

https://www.corkcoco.ie/en/visitor/camden-fort-meagher

I'll only add a few photos here, but again I have a full album from my weekend trip if you have time and interest. On the Saturday we took a picnic lunch to The Lough - a small lake right in the centre of suburban Cork. I've often heard of it as C and a good friend he visits often go walking there, but it's the first time I've been and it was such an unexpected sight. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PSa6TfN9fDmfsjAY6

Botanic Outpost

 We took a trip today to Kilmacurragh gardens, which is described as an 18th century country estate, part of which officially became part of the Botanic Gardens in 1996. I think all my visits there pre-date that, though I've only ever known the house as a ruin. One of my first outings with a proper "grown-up" camera (an old range-finder, nothing even as fancy as an SLR) was there, so it holds fond memories memory. I still have most of the photos from that visit. 

We had missed what they describe as a carpet of crocuses and other wildflowers in the meadow in front of the house, but were at a good time to enjoy the rhododendrons. 

The "Broad Walk" is described as being wide enough for two Victorian ladies to walk side by side in their hoops and crinolines, and alternates yew trees and rhododendrons - all now massive. I imagine they looked much more orderly 200 years ago.

I had thought this looked very like laburnum, but being now under the auspices of the Botanic Gardens many things are well lablled, and it is in fact a Sophora cassioides.

This old trunk was always a favourite of ours, reminding us of Lucy M. Boston's Green Knowe books.

Someone told us they had seen a woodpecker. Sadly, we didn't see it, but we did see a red kite soaring overhead. 

These and a few more photos (25 in total) are in an album HERE. It also includes a short video snip of a little mallard chick. Last Sunday, or maybe it was Monday, we went for a walk along the canal looking for ducklings. All we found was one single solitary duckling with its mother, which was a little sad really, I'm sure it means the rest of the brood were predated as I've never seen only one before. 

Hot Off the Needles

 as promised. I've been knitting this Aran sweater for a while - C picked out and determined on a v-neck cardigan pattern which he wanted converted into a crewneck sweater, so the sizing required adjusting and the whole front neck shapings had to be calculated. And there was a pause while I knit the baby blanket - but it's done.

 I also made him a shirt. I had ordered 1/4 metre of peacock feather fabric for masks, and when he saw it, he requested a shirt. So that was his anniversary present. For some reason it's very hard to get the colour of the fabric right. I sent my sister a photo of a spare mask to see if she would like it, and when she got it, she said the fabric was even nicer than the photo. It is - I've ordered more to make a summer dress for myself - and didn't think the photo I took of the shirt was worth uploading. There's more jade green colour in the fabric in real life. 

From Wednesday in the park, a coot chickling.

And on Thursday, as C had taken a couple of days off, we went for a drive and a change of scenery. This is Lough Tay, in the Wicklow mountains. Of recent years it's been used to film The Vikings, and the houses and piers visible in the second photo are part of the film set rather than authentic original scenery. From the amount of trucks and vans in the car park above it, I suspect that shooting was happening on the day. 

It was intermittently cloudy and quite windy, but after the prolonged lockdown that started at the end of December, it was lovely to see some totally different scenery. 

Greystones

I visited my aunt during the week, and since it was the first of the lovely warm sunny (actually, quite hazy but still a vast improvement) day after some very cold grey days, I took an earlier train and went for a walk along the seafront first. I can't remember what the big tall plants are called - they have a single decorative flowering stalk. Anyway, they had obviously all been severely cut back and I really liked the way the wind over the winter had frayed all the ends.

I've been seeing plenty of bluebells out - which feels early as I think of them more as May flowers.

The first photo, it always amuses me to see now. This is pretty much high tide - and the chances of anyone diving in are slim and remote. But in my childhood days it was a bathing spot even at low tide.

Turnstones

For the birds...

We were dog-sitting for my aunt for a week, and took a short walk in the East Coast Nature Reserve.
Not many photos because, as a couple we met leaving one of the hides said, "There's not a feather stirring out there." Not quite true - we saw a bird of prey circle when we arrived, perhaps a kite or hen harrier, and C really enjoyed seeing (and hearing) a flight of swans go overhead. And there were plenty of geese grazing. But also a couple of my photos seem to have been corrupted, and then the card became unreadable, so while the preview thumbnails looks great, I can't open them. A shame, because there was one of the reeds looking beautifully golden yellow in the sunshine.

Oh - and here's the dog we were "sitting". Waiting hopefully (and in vain) for scraps at the table.

Wicklow in the sun...

Yesterday was a beautiful morning, and a warm but not so sunny afternoon. We made the effort to get out of the house quite early, and went for a drive round the Blessington Lakes and then down Wicklow Gap to Laragh. When we stopped at one of the little car parks just before Laragh, the smell from the gorse was just heavenly! The sunshine really brings it out.