Tag: Nature

Photos

A stag in the rain

A stag in the field opposite Muckross House in Killarney on a very wet October afternoon this year.

I was there with Blarney Photography Club and after a not so successful morning we retreated to the café in Muckross Garden Restaurant for lunch.

It was still raining afterwards, but some of us stopped outside to photograph this stag. In a lull in the rain I stupidly ran out with only a light jacket and took cover under a tree that was still heavy with leaves. Got a few shots and then the heavens opened. Got a bit soaked!

Totally worth it. Great day out with great people.

Aperture	ƒ/6.3
Camera	ILCE-7M3
Focal length	600mm
ISO	2000
Shutter speed	1/1000s

Tags Blarney Photography Club, Ireland, Kerry, Killarney, Nature, Photos, Rain, Sony A7 III, stag

Photos

The Devil’s Coach Horse

I spotted this nasty looking fella on a trail in Killarney last weekend. We hoped to catch the rutting but the weather was terrible, and stags were shy. No fights but a few photos to post later..

Anyway, this guy was huge! This page says they’re about 2.8 cm, but I swear he was bigger. His tail comes up like a scorpion, and he scampered quickly across the ground, making him hard to photograph.

A ferocious and fast predator, the Devil’s coach horse beetle hunts invertebrates after dark in gardens and on grasslands. It is well-known for curling up its abdomen like the tail of a scorpion when defending itself.
wildlifetrusts.org

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a beetle like this before, but apparently they’re common!

Aperture	ƒ/5
Camera	ILCE-7M3
Focal length	150mm
ISO	1250
Shutter speed	1/500s

Tags Beetle, Ireland, Kerry, Killarney, Nature, Photos, Sony A7 III

Photos

Red and White Mushroom in the grass

Post author By Donncha
Post date October 8, 2022
No Comments on Red and White Mushroom in the grass

An Amanita muscaria, commonly known as the fly agaric or fly amanita [*] in the grounds of Blarney Castle yesterday. It’s a poisonous mushroom found throughout temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, according to Wikipedia.

It’s also poisonous, but these days death from ingestion is rare. It has psychoactive uses too, and it’s eaten in various places.

Thanks Catherine for letting me know where these mushrooms were. She posted a nice photo of a mushroom from there recently! The nice thing about these mushrooms is that they are quite large, so you don’t really need a macro lens to get a photo like this of them.

Aperture	ƒ/6.3
Camera	ILCE-7M3
Focal length	194mm
ISO	500
Shutter speed	1/200s

Tags Amanita muscaria, Blarney, Blarney Castle, Cork, Ireland, mushrooms, Nature, Photos, Sony A7 III

Photos

The Clougheenmillcon Deer

Post author By Donncha
Post date May 6, 2022
No Comments on The Clougheenmillcon Deer

I was out with members of Blarney Photography Club last night at Clougheenmillcon near Blarney. Deer have been spotted in the area but I’d only glimpsed one while driving past some months ago.

A runner approached me with a big smile asking if I’d seen the deer. It was about 300m further on down the path towards Killeens. I was tired already but decided I needed to see it with my own eyes.

Sure enough, it was calmly eating grass by the side of the path. I had my long telephoto lens but there was really no need for it as the animal was so close!

After a few minutes of eating, looking around warily and walking to find the best grass he suddenly galloped off and disappeared into the brush.

Aperture	ƒ/5.6
Camera	ILCE-7M3
Focal length	233.30000305176mm
ISO	25600
Shutter speed	1/1000s

Tags animal, Blarney, Blarney Photography Club, Cork, deer, Ireland, Nature, Photos, Sony A7 III

Photos

Mushrooms on a Tree

Mushrooms growing in the wilds of the Galtee Mountains.

Aperture	ƒ/20
Camera	ILCE-7M3
Focal length	55mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	6s

Tags Blarney Photography Club, Galtee Mountains, Ireland, Limerick, mushrooms, Nature, Photos, Sony A7 III

Photos

The Golden Fields of Ballycotton

Post author By Donncha
Post date January 17, 2022
No Comments on The Golden Fields of Ballycotton

At certain times of the year the Ballycotton cliff walk allows you to walk next to rich golden fields under blue skies.

Not at this time of year obviously. This was in July 2011!

Aperture	ƒ/10
Camera	Canon EOS 40D
Focal length	18mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/250s

Tags Ballycotton, Canon 40D, clouds, Cork, fields, Ireland, Nature, Photos, Sky

Photos

Autumn Colours in Blarney Castle Gardens

Post author By Donncha
Post date November 14, 2021
No Comments on Autumn Colours in Blarney Castle Gardens

We’ve been lucky this year that the autumn and early winter has been so mild. It was 15C today! I think of this display as one last hurrah before the cold and rain and wind really sets in.

Aperture	ƒ/8
Camera	ILCE-7M3
Focal length	16mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/50s

Tags Autumn Colours, Blarney, Blarney Castle, Cork, Fall Colors, Ireland, Nature, Photos, Sony A7 III

Photos

Bunches of Mushrooms

Clusters of mushrooms growing out of an old tree trunk by a small river.

Aperture	ƒ/4
Camera	ILCE-7M3
Focal length	50mm
ISO	100
Shutter speed	1/8s

Tags Blarney Photography Club, Galtee Mountains, Ireland, Limerick, mushrooms, Nature, Photos, Sony A7 III

Photos

Tiny Mushroom

Here’s one of my attempts at a mushroom photo, focus stacked from 4 roughly the same images.

This sort of photography is really hard isn’t it? You have to get down really low which is a problem itself if you don’t have a tripod to suit. An extension tube is a requirement as I don’t have a macro lens, and then trying to manually focus on the different parts of the mushroom is a challenge.

The focus assist in my camera really helped there. It shows dancing dots where the image is focused but even at f/14 it wasn’t enough to encompass the entire mushroom from front to back. Tap to zoom paid off a few times as it blows up the image to help focusing.

It was fascinating to see the focus dots move like a wave through the scene as I zoomed in and out. Yes, zooming in and out moved the focus point significantly! Significantly here means a few centimetres. Everything is small scale here.