Tag Archives: 2023

2023 Fireworks on Spike Island

Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort
Fireworks light up the sky above Fort Mitchel on Spike Island. a crowd watches, surrounded by the buildings of the fort

Last night I attended the 85th Birthday Celebrations & Commemorations on Spike Island in Cork Harbour.

Eagle-eyed readers will already have seen the fireworks photo I posted to this page yesterday. Readers with even better eye sight will have noticed that I replaced the image I uploaded yesterday with a slightly different version today. Call it me being peculiar, but I wanted to edit the photo on my computer today and make the best of the image. The one that I uploaded yesterday came from minimal editing in Lightroom on my phone while we waited for the ferry.

From the Spike Island website,

At Spike Island, we’re celebrating our 85th birthday this year with our annual Family Fun Evening and Fireworks Display, marking the date when Spike Island was officially handed from Britain to Ireland in 1938. In honour of this momentous occasion, we’ll be celebrating our Independence Day with a spectacular fireworks display, musical performances and family fare on Saturday 8th July.
Visitors will board the ferry across the world’s second largest natural harbour, enjoy a guided tour on arrival, explore the fort’s amazing museums and exhibitions and walk the amazing island nature trails. On this special night, there will also be family entertainment, children’s activities,  pop-up musical performances, face painters and more.

To close the night, a fireworks display will launch 1300 fireworks into the sky over Cork Harbour, one for every inmate who died on the island in its three incarnations as a prison.

This year, to mark the 85th anniversary of the 1938 handover of the ‘Treaty Ports’ from Britain to Ireland, Spike Island is also hosting a new Handover Exhibition at Mitchel Hall featuring a newly added collection of original artefacts. Visitors will have the opportunity to view this exhibition telling the story of our independence on the evening of the celebrations event.

I booked my ticket late, so we arrived just before 8pm, did a tour of the fort, bought some food in the restaurant and settled down to wait until the fireworks started, accompanied by Strictly Cash, a Johnny Cash tribute band.

The fireworks went on for some time and were spectacular. We had a great time photographing them, and the images you see here are only a small selection of the images I shot.

The ferry back was supposed to be at midnight, but things got delayed. I think it might have been almost 1am by the time we reached Cobh. The rain held off all evening, until just after midnight, but luckily, I had an umbrella with me. Bizarrely, there was no sign of rain in Cobh at all!


Apertureƒ/6.3
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length24mm
ISO400
Shutter speed1s

The Old Bank House of Kinsale

The Old Bank House, or Old Bank Townhouse is a 5 star hotel, right at the busiest junction in Kinsale. I’ve walked past there loads of times, drove past there more times, but I never noticed the 5 star designation.

The Google Maps reviews for this establishment are very positive, although it comes as no surprise that some guests have mentioned the presence of noise.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length240mm
ISO8000
Shutter speed1/1000s

The Homes of Kinsale

If you’ve been to Kinsale you’ll be familiar with the centre of town but behind those businesses are the homes of local residents, stretching up towards the top of the hill.

It’s a lovely town, full of history and of course great food, so well worth a visit. 🙂


Apertureƒ/6.3
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length78mm
ISO1000
Shutter speed1/320s

Our Pets

Mommy Cat, the oldest of our cats passed away yesterday at somewhere around the age of 17. We’re not sure, because she adopted us around 15 years ago. We are sure that she was roaming the estate for some time before that.

She had lovely kittens, but only one is left now, Hoppy, who is in the centre of the image here.


Apertureƒ/1.7
CameraGalaxy S23 Ultra
Focal length6.3mm
ISO10
Shutter speed1/340s

Swallows fly fast!

Two swallows in the air, one out of focus above a rural landscape with a house in the background and some poles.

Swallows fly really fast and they’re difficult to photograph in flight, so when I managed to catch this one in flight I had to share both.

As I was advised by Rory, I didn’t zoom in which made it easier to catch them crossing the scene. On my Sony camera I set it to wide focus and I must have tracking enabled somewhere in the settings because it did a remarkable job of tracking the bird, showing green focus spots moving quickly across the screen!

This is a heavily cropped image, and it has been cleaned up in Topaz Photo AI.


Apertureƒ/5
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length160.3mm
ISO2000
Shutter speed1/4000s

Close

Ad-blocker not detected

Consider installing a browser extension that blocks ads and other malicious scripts in your browser to protect your privacy and security. Here are a few options.

  • uBlock Origin is a free, open source, ad blocker for your browser.
  • Use pi-hole if you have a spare Raspberry Pi on your network.
  • Set the private DNS settings on your phone to dns.adguard.com to block adverts and trackers.