Sunset on a snowy hill

Bursting through winter skies, the remaining sunset light reflects on a freshly snowed hill top around Bantry Bay.

Bantry (Beanntraí), Cork Co., Ireland
2017, December

Ireland countryside dressed for Winter

One of the great things about using backroads is that you never know what kind of landscape you may encounter. This week, a snow fall has taken up the hilly regions of West Cork County, sprinkling the green pastures in white tones.

Dunmanway (Dún Mánmhaí), Ireland
2017, December

Baltimore Beacon eastern cliffs

A place where you run out of ground, yet you are still able to expand your horizons.

Baltimore Beacon, Skibbereen (An Sciobairín) Ireland
2017, December

Owenahincha Panorama

A wide panorama of Owenahincha Beach in a stormy day.

Owenahincha Beach, Rosscarbery (Ros Ó gCairbre) Ireland
2017, December

Contrasting horizons

The skies and an overflowing river transformed a deserted beach into something much more interesting.

 

Owenahincha Beach, Rosscarbery (Ros Ó gCairbre) Ireland
2017, December

Shetland Pony

You never know what type of beast you came across with when trekking through some hilly grasslands.

Horse, Shetland pony breed - Equus ferus caballus

Clonalkity (Cloich na Coillte), Ireland
2017, November

Harbour View – Kilbrittain

A rarely peaceful sea contrasting with the incoming stormy sky at Kilbrittain´s Harbour View Beach.

  Kilbrittain (Cill Briotáin) , Ireland
2017, October

Kilbrittain Forest

The pale green and golden tones of Kilbrittain woods.

Kilbrittain (Cill Briotáin), Co. Cork, Ireland
2017, October

Furry foxy crawler

An interesting find on a cliff cove, a furry fox moth caterpillar. I don´t know if it had fallen from the cliffs or if it was an instinctively searching for a rocky edge at the beach to start its metamorphosis. More interesting, there was more of them around, thus not a fluke

Fox moth - Macrothylacia rubi

Clonalkity (Cloich na Coillte), Ireland
2017, October

My garden spider

Well, my closest neighbor, at least of which I am aware of…

Cross spider, garden spider - Araneus diadematus

Cork, Ireland
2017, September

Old Head Cliffs

In the Old Head of Kinsale (An Seancheann), and throughout the ages, differential erosion slowly carves upon the rocks. Yet, layers of shale and sandstone erode at different rates. Sandstone, being more resilient, remains leaving a vertical edged landscape.

The Old Head of Kinsale (An Seancheann)

Kinsale, Ireland
2017, September

Old Head

The Old Head (An Seancheann) is a sandstone peninsula, south of Kinsale. An early XVII lighthouse, the ruins of an old guard tower and a rebuilt early XIX signal tower remain above the scenery. Although being a beautiful landscape, a golf course has held the entire peninsula as hostage, blocking access to its cliffs from both tourism and locals.
As this is the closest point of land to where the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat, in 1915, a memorial stands behind this perspective.

The Old Head of Kinsale (An Seancheann) 

Kinsale, Ireland
2017, September

Nohoval Cove

It was a clear and bright sunny Summer day. Except this is Ireland... and you always count with the Irish fog! When I got to this location, visibility was down to 50m. I couldn't even see the peaks. But, again, this is Ireland. In 20 minutes, everything changed, the fog dropped just before sunrise, leaving a quite interesting mist for the composition. Nohoval cove provides a narrow access to the sea, in-between the high cliffs of Ireland’s Southern Coast. It is located in Nohoval (An Seancheann) parish, near Kinsale.

Nohoval cove at sunset, in a very misty day.

Kinsale, Ireland
2017, September

You have arrived at your destination

So, I moved to Ireland, for professional reasons. I spent the night in a cheap hotel near Dublin's Airport. Found out that it wasn't really a single room. Or it was but had company with me. Found a friendly Irish spider doing its thing on the ceiling. Definitely, this "added bonus" was not listed in booking. This is my first photo in Ireland. Technically, not a good one (ISO way beyond camera's usable sensitivity) but I want to keep it as a reminder that, whatever you want it or not, Nature is always around us and we are part of it. Well, I love it!

Spider (unknown species)

Dublin, Ireland
2017, September

Wasp spider

Well, a different perspective of the wasp spider reveals that it’s all fluffy and colourful. Not that scary, isn’t it?
[PT] Em português, a Argiope bruennichi tem diversos nomes comuns: cesteira-dos-jardins, aranha-vespa, tecedeira-vespa, aranha-tigre, tecedeira-de-brünnich ou aranha-dos-jardins

Wasp spider; Aranha-vespa, aranha-tigre - Argiope bruennichi

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, August

Stuff of nightmares

I’m, definitely, not an arachnophobic.

 Wasp spider; Aranha-vespa, aranha-tigre - Argiope bruennichi

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, August

Once dominant…

Standing for ages passed and thriving for another day, this noble and ancient being is bathed by early sunlight. Portuguese northern forests were once dominated by oak trees… Some things should never change.

Common oak, penduculate oak; carvalho-alvarinho, carvalho-roble – Quercus robur

Terras de Bouro, Portugal
2017, April

Don’t mind me, I’m just a stick

The season of heat and bugs is at its peak. Getting close to the ground and giving it a bit of attention, you can find a myriad of little crawling, jumping and flying buggers all over the place. Easily mistaken for a branch, I found this one moving around. The stick bugs are absolutely fragile. Their healthy presence is also an indicator of the absence of pesticides in the surroundings. While simple in its shape, it remains an amazing and curious form of life.

Stick insect; bicho-pau, insecto-pau  - Clonopsis gallica

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, August

Summer nights

A panoramic nightscape, taken from the trail that leads to the submerged village of Vilarinho das Furnas, in the heart of Peneda-Gerês National Park. Even in a clear summer night, the dam’s reservoir and the surrounding autochthonous forests fill the valley with moist air, creating clouds that quickly dissipate with the wind. While this region is fairly deep in Homem River’s valley, when facing West, light pollution from the nearby villages and the large city of Braga dominates the horizon.

Terras de Bouro, Portugal
2017, July

One hell of a bad day

A sudden thunderstorm and heavy rain poured upon the Northern region of Portugal. My dog spotted something moving on the ground and barked a couple times to get my attention to it. What he found was a young sparrow, completely soaked and wet and absolutely frightened by thunder. Apparently, it had chosen a bad day to come out of its nest and learn to fly. I just caught it, left it on the nearest tree and took a couple of pictures. I also noticed its parents clinging nearby, thus I felt that the rest of this story would be up to Nature’s own path. When I walked away, its parents returned, numerous times, with food and insisting that it flew away with them. It took a while for him to become active, but the young sparrow did manage to dry its feathers and fly away. And you were having a bad day, huh?

House sparrow; juvenil de pardal-comum - Passer domesticus L.

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, May

Fecha de Barjas – a new perspective

The first publications I did for this blog were photographs taken from this location. Recently, I repeated the short trail to Fecha de Barjas waterfalls. Yet, I had few hopes of witnessing the full glory of River Arado, as Portugal has had the driest April of the last 90 years. Nonetheless, the river was there, scarce, but still flowing. The bottom half of this sequence of waterfalls is so dominant over the landscape that visitors (as I did before) tend to focus on the closest perspectives. This time, I focused on framing perspectives more afar.
The shepherd’s shelter, built on top of the cliff, exhibits both the hardship of older times but also how close traditional rural life was with the beauty of Nature. When Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Fallingwater house, already some Portuguese inhabitant of Gerês Mountains had done some similar.

Ermida, Terras de Bouro, Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, April

The guardian of my garden

I have built a couple of garden wooden boxes to grow some vegetables at home. Each time I water the garden, creatures run afar in seek of refuge and I’m able to witness far more life there than what I’ve actually planted. The most notorious one is this green huntsman spider that has become a local resident. In this moment, it took refuge in top of a full grown arugula leaf. I’ve nicknamed “the guardian”.

 Green huntsman spider; aranha-verde-de-huntsman - Micrommata virescens

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, April

Standing tall among giants

A granny's nightcap - Aquilegia vulgaris stretches towards the scarce sunlight that penetrates the dense woods of Mata da Albergaria.

European columbine, granny's nightcap, aquilégia [PT]  - Aquilegia vulgaris

Terras de Bouro, Portugal
2017, April

Hello sunshine

The western mountains of Gerês shining with the rising Sun, while the deep valley of Cávado River still hanging in the twilight. Interestingly, while I was taking this photograph in a rather inhabited region of Gerês Mountain Range, I was also overlooking one of the most populated and well known touristic locations: the two bridges over Cávado River and the villages of Rio Caldo and Vilar da Veiga. This perspective also illustrates the balance between Nature and human population within the Peneda-Gerês National Park (PNPG).

Terras de Bouro, Portugal
2017, April

Forests' Spring tones

The forests are dressing themselves in bright green.

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, April

Iberian frog

With the increase in temperature and with abundant water still available, amphibians become a common sight. This Iberian Frog was just emerging from a forest trail side pond.

Iberian frog; rã-ibérica – Rana iberica

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, April

Garrano – III

Curious young Garrano horse. Looking proud on his pose but still clumsy in its steps.

Horse, Garrano breed; Cavalo, da raça Garrano – Equus caballus L.

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, April

Garrano - II

Profile of a dominant male Garrano.

Horse, Garrano breed; Cavalo, da raça Garrano – Equus caballus L.

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, April

Garrano - I

Whenever you walk in Cabreira Mountains, they are always there. Their grasslands, their hills and their mountains.

Horse, Garrano breed; Cavalo, da raça Garrano – Equus caballus L.

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, April

Wind painting

A water stream falling under an oak tree. Sometimes you just have to let the natural elements do all the artistic work for you.

Serra da Cabreira, Portugal
2017, April

Mountain Shelters - III

The shelter of Cabana de Bouças de Areias, in the higher altitudes of Cabreira Mountain Range, stands as a memory of ancient and far harder lives than those we can enjoy nowadays. It has served and still shelters shepherds, hunters and any mountaineer seeking a refuge from the mountain’s harsh weather conditions. It is also a good example of culture preservation, as the local municipality of Vieira do Minho has taken efforts to restore it while preserving its authenticity

Serra da Cabreira, Portugal
2017, Março

Death…

Distant from the closest woods, a lonely and decaying tree remains erect over the surrounding scenery. While the tree is dead, its trunk still holds life, as birds of prey may use its cavities for nesting or use it as a watch tower

Serra da Cabreira, Portugal
2017, March

Spring as arrived series - III

Coming back to the Spring series… and the different perspectives I took from the same subject: an Armenian plum tree in full blossom.

 Armenian plum, damasqueiro – Prunos armeniaca

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, Março

Vanishing point

The moment you know where you’re heading…

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

Solitude

One of the things I, truly, miss in some regions of Gêres are forests. With some exceptions, like Mata da Albergaria, you can walk long distances without observing a single mature tree. While trees do not thrive in higher altitudes, the truth is that Gerês was once far more forested that it is nowadays. The exploration of woodlands for building, coal and fire without replanting (sustaining) forests, and, particularly, the devastating fires in the last decades left these mountains deprived of true forests patches. Sometimes, deep in the valleys, especially along streams, you can still see several species of autochthones trees, offering a glimpse of the forests that may have once stood here.
In this trail, I found a young cork tree, isolated in a mountain side. Its organic shape stands out from the rocky landscape. It was alone, truly alone, in the sense that I haven’t seen anything but rocks, bushes and grass for kilometres.

Cork oak / Sobreiro - Quercus suber

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

A dangerous procession in my path

With the trail passing by woodland, I saw an interesting behavioural manifestation of a group of small but quite deadly creatures. Adult pine processionary caterpillars leave their nests up in the pine trees and crawl in large groups, forming a single line. They actually travel for lengthy distances, until finding soft ground to burying themselves, forming cocoons and, later, emerging as moths.

It is also in this later adult stage that they can become deadly as their only defence against predators is their hairy spikes. These, upon contact, can cause severe rashes and even allergic reactions. Moreover, when under stress, these caterpillars eject their hairs which cling to the predator’s skin, eyes and respiratory airways. Dogs, with their curiosity, easily fall severely ill and may perish from just sniffing these caterpillars. Fortunately, this deadly procession only lasts a couple days a year, commonly occurring in the first warm days of spring.

These caterpillars are a devastating plague for pine woodlands. However, they have become a plague because of former agricultural policies which replaced autochthones forests with monocultures of their preferred habitat: the pine tree. Moreover, the natural predators of these caterpillars, crickets, bats and several birds’ species, fail on having natural environments to successfully breed in sufficient numbers to control the population. One major issue of forest farming is that trees are taken down without aging enough to provide natural shelters, i.e. small cavities, for birds to nest. One possible contribution would be to provide, in the affected regions, artificial nests for predators such as the great tit.

Pine processionary / Lagarta processionária do pinheiro - Thaumetopoea pityocampa Schiff. 

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

Awakening Giant

Alto da Surreira do Meio Dia, a southeast mountain of Gerês, becomes illuminated by the sunrise. Facing it, the very small village of Fontainho still hangs in the darkness. What an amazing sight must be to have this rocky giant as your daily background when you open the windows.
[PT]Alto da Surreira do Meio Dia, na zona sudoeste do Gerês, iluminada pelo nascer do Sol. À sua frente, a aldeia de Fontainho permanece ainda na escuridão. Que bela imagem deve ser acordar diariamente perante o cenário deste gigante rochoso.

Serra do Gerês, Cabril, Portugal
2017, Março

Winter overrides spring

After a couple of days of very shinny and quite warm days, winter has made a sudden comeback and has overridden flower blossoms with a mantle of white fresh snow. Had no time to photograph it but I still had this one from last February’s snowstorm.

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, Fevereiro

Salamander’s Pool

[EN] And then I realized I was not truly alone. This fire-salamander passed by, swimming upstream just to find a steady spot. Then it stood there, gently floating and holding itself by a grass leaf, while warming up with the sunlight. I was truly witnessing the undisturbed Nature’s most peaceful beauty. I found no given name for this specific part of the stream. Thus, and at least for my records, I hereby claim it as The Pool of The Salamander.

[PT] Foi neste momento que me apercebi que não estava sozinho. Uma salamandra-de-pintas-amarelas passou por mim, nadando corrente acima até encontrar um local calmo. E ali ficou, a gentilmente a flutuar, segurando-se por uma erva submergida, enquanto se aquecia ao Sol. Eu estava, realmente, a testemunhar o lado mais pacífico da beleza da imperturbada Natureza. Não encontrei um nome para esta poça em particular. Desta forma e pelo menos para os meus registos, baptizo este local da “Poça da Salamandra”.

Fire salamander / salamandra-de-fogo ou salamandra-de-pintas-amarelas – Salamandra-salamandra

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

Ode to the skies

The day as awakened with a perfect and very deep blue sky. No clouds in sight, temperatures rising above 25ºC, and a slight breeze, nothing else. While this weather would be perfect for walking a trail, it dulls landscape photography by filling the upper composition with a rather monotonic and texture-less blue. Well, I said to myself, just dedicate your compositions to the mountains. Fill in those two thirds with rocky landscapes and patches of grass. That’s what matters.
And then this happens… the sky fills in with all its glory, steals all the protagonism from the mountains and, essentially, draws poetry in motion. I just stood there, witnessing it, and holding the camera and pointing it way to high, above the horizon…
[PT] O dia acordou com um céu de um profundo azul. Sem qualquer nuvem à vista, temperaturas acima dos 25ºC, uma pequena briza, e nada mais. Embora estas condições sejam óptimas para percorrer um trilho, acabam por empobrecer a fotografia de paisagem por encherem a parte superior da composição com um azul monotónico. Dediquei-me a encher as minhas composições com montanhas, enchendo os primeiros dois terços de rochas e vegetação. Era o que interessava.
E depois isto acontece. O céu enche-se de glória, rouba todo o protagonismo às montanhas e, essencialmente, desenha poesia em movimento. E eu fiquei ali, a testemunhar algo de extraordinário e a segurar a câmara, apontando-a bem acima do horizonte….

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

Horizons – Laje dos Bois Panorama

The greatest gift I could receive in my birthday is… myself! And then make use of this day to walk a beautiful trail in the mountains and get my own ego crushed by the magnitude of these landscapes.
Laje dos Bois is a very small plateau, in the Gerês Eastern Mountains. It holds a patch of grassland, encircled by human laid rocks. This ancient grazing area is used to keep and feed cattle at high-altitude and very rocky landscapes. This is a 360º panorama of the horizon observable from its center.

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

By the way, my “spring has arrived series” was suddenly interrupted by a 30ºC summer day in March. I’ll return to it…

Spring has arrived series - II

How many ways you can observe the same phenomena from the same subject. This photographic series, entitled “Spring has arrived”, is exactly that: how many perspectives am I able to take from one single subject: an absolutely astonishing Armenian Plum fruit tree with its early spring’s blossoms. From this rather simple photographic exercise, I can extrapolate to society: exploring and looking at things from different perspectives is an effective form to avoid adopting dogmas or limiting our knowledge to certain ways of thinking. In a side note, I must say that the first photograph is, clearly, one of mine most chaotic compositions. And it, actually, works…

Armenian plum, damasqueiro – Prunos armeniaca

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, Março

Spring has arrived series - I

One of the local fruit trees has informed me that spring has arrived…

 

Armenian plum, damasqueiro – Prunos armeniaca

Vieira do Minho, Portugal
2017, Março

Old trees are unique

Growing firmly on the ridge of a trail, an old almond willow has shaped itself uniquely. Despite its size, any bonsai enthusiast would envy such natural achievement. Salix triandra is a native/autochthones species, although this particular specimen is interestingly far from its most natural region, Trás-Os-Montes

Almond willow, salgueiro-de-folhas-de-amendoeira – Salix triandra

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February

Serra da Cabreira – Fragas de Toco

Fragas de Toco (and Toco Mountain) in the central region of Cabreira Mountain Range.

Serra da Cabreira, Portugal
2017, February

Serra do Gerês - a full panoramic view

Looking North, towards the entirety of Gerês Mountain Range, quite properly exhibiting Winter in all its glory (and coldness). Gerês Town can be seen in the valley at the right, with its households fading into the altitude of the mountains.

Olhando para Norte, para a totalidade da Serra do Gerês, apropriadamente no seu glorioso estado Invernal. A Vila do Gerês pode ser vista, no vale à direita, esbatendo-se em altitude.

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February

Sunset at Arado’s Waterfall

Being relatively close to a road, and a starting point for many trails in Gerês Mountains, Arado’s waterfall is one of the most scenic and tourist spots of the National Park. The waterfall is formed by the streams of Teixeira river, Lomba and Corga da Giesteira streams, and other lesser affluent. Yet, at this location, the river vertically drops 30m in a magnificent succession of waterfalls. Returning from a trail, what caught my attention were not the waterfalls themselves but the late afternoon sunlight hitting and strongly coloring the trees that frame this location.

Sendo relativamente perto de uma Estrada, e um excelente ponto de partida para vários trilhos na Serra do Gerês, a Cascata do Arado é um dos locais mais cénicos e visitados do Parque Nacional. A cascata em si é formada pelos caudais do Rio Teixeira, da Ribeira da Lomba, da Corga da Giesteira e de mais alguns afluentes menores. No entanto, neste local, o rio caí verticalmente em quase 30m, criando uma magnífica sucessão de cascatas. No regresso de um trilho, o que me captou a atenção não foram as cascatas em si mas o intenso Sol de fim de tarde, a embater e a colorir as folhas das árvores que enquadram este local.

(Note: in this photography, only the intermediate waterfall can be seen).
Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February