The sun peeks through the clouds to illuminate the ruins of a wall in the grounds of Blarney Castle, Cork.

Snow fell last night in Ireland and everything came to a halt as people all over the country gasped in wonder at the strange white stuff on the ground. Thankfully it looks like it won’t last. We’re not equipped to deal with this sort of weather at all! Blarney Castle opened later than usual but…

Crows sitting through the snow falling in Blarney a few minutes ago.

If you go down to Blarney Castle now you’ll see 30,000 daffodils blooming in the beautiful gardens there. In my last post I joked that the daffodils were confused but it’s a plant that flowers early and tolerates the cold so it’s perfect for this time of year. Be sure to check out Ferbal O’Callaghan’s…

There are some confused daffodils in Blarney Castle this year, out in January! I hope the rest of January is mild enough for them. I posted a similar photo on Instagram a few hours ago, just in case you’re getting a strange sense of déjà vu.

I suspect Hoppy saw Santa last night as she was extra happy this morning!

Leaves fallen on the ground near Blarney Castle, Cork.

Poor Santa, he’s a little worse for wear around this time of year. He’s so busy.

A member of An Garda Síochána directed traffic in Blarney last night when Santa visited and the lights were turned on in the village. This is a long exposure zoomed shot, of about one second duration with the flash firing at the end of the exposure. To replicate: Make sure you set your flash to…

I discovered there’s an apple tree on the Waterloo Road near Blarney recently when I spotted apples on the road while out walking. Originally I thought I’d post this as a bright colourful photo but then I wanted to show off the texture of the fruit against the rough, stony surface of the road. Black…

Red fruit from a tree in the grounds of Blarney Castle. I have no idea what tree they come from as the name plate on the trunk is far below the wall where I photographed them. I’ll update the post when I find out! I found out that they’re called “Cornus kousa” thanks to Adam…

Suspicious eyes watch us through a fence in the grounds of Blarney Castle about a month ago. PS. No watermark. Photo is CC anyway.