Uploads from sam2cents, with geodata

Tawny Mining Bee female

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 05:54:29 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

Waterfall

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 06:57:33 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

This photo was taken by my friend Cormac and is one of the best I've ever found myself in. You may have noticed that I'm taking a sly shot myself, of both Cormac and my brother, Owen. But the reason I uploaded is because you really ought to look at this incredible shot below of the Iguazu Falls in Brazil, taken by Annuska... www.flickr.com/photos/annatheodora/7335578404/in/photostream

Hoverfly

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:04:04 -0800

sam2cents posted a photo:

Amazingly I found one of the authors of the definitive hoverfly book I bought recently, here on Flickr, and he got back to me to say it is not Meligramma trianguliferum but, in fact, the very similar-looking Meliscaeva auricollis, one of the earliest spring hoverflies, and one which is found in Ireland but is quite scarce. The fun has begun...

Thanks to Steven Falk for his expertise!

Cherry Blossom... in January!

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 05:47:20 -0800

sam2cents posted a photo:

I actually took this shot two weeks ago - and then we got freezing weather!

January Roses

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:06:13 -0800

sam2cents posted a photo:

This rose has not stopped blooming since last summer. The cold weather slowed it down, but now it's exploding with blooms once again.

Daffodils

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 15:43:02 -0800

sam2cents posted a photo:

Bohemian Waxwing

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 08:18:04 -0800

sam2cents posted a photo:

Terrible lighting and an unfortunately high ISO but this is my first decent shot of a Bohemian Waxwing, a winter visitor from Scandinavia. I've only seen them once before, in 2002. There were three on this occasion, feeding on the berries on bushes at the front of Newcastle Community Centre.

Jungle finale

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 16:43:38 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

What's a jungle without big lush leaved ferns ferns! This is the last one. The Blackditch Wood Reserve only been fully open to the public this summer so I need to go back and do some more exploring. Thank you all for your interest and generous comments on this series.

More Jungle

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 05:40:34 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

I liked this scene especially because it reminded me of a Rousseau jungle.

Ireland used to be covered in rainforest due to our peculiar climatic conditions. Not tropical rainforest, of course as we're nowhere near the tropics, but rainforest nonetheless. The most substantial remaining is in the Killarney National Park, but only on the other side of the Irish Sea the Welsh have the Celtic Rainforest National Park, which would be much more like the kind in Wicklow.

Somewhere in the Irish Jungle

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 12:52:33 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

Sometimes it's just nice to go out and wander in the woods. This is birch forest btw.

Many, many thanks for the kind words on the last photos. I'm overwhelmed. Flickr is starting to feel a bit like the good old days.

Pippa and the Hedgehog

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 06:58:49 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

This hedgehog is a frequent visitor to our garden, and Pippa knows her quite well, which is why she isn't rolled up into a ball of spines. She (the hedgehog) was scratching like crazy, fleas no doubt. Hedgehogs have terrible flea infestations.

Where the Barrow rises

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 10:11:15 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

Yesterday I went to visit my brother, Trevor, who now lives down the country with his girlfriend. We went to the Barrow waterfall, just up the road in the Slieve Bloom Mountains. The Barrow is a big river, one of the Three Sisters, with the Nore and the Suir, which were vital canal rivers in the 19th and early 20th century. In ancient times the Barrow was the eastern border of the Kingdom of Ossory.
The water here is extraordinary, the colour of black coffee, probably due to the tannins. Yet it is clear too, not dirty.

Water-lily

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 06:36:48 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

This was photographed at the upper end of the Upper Lake in Glendalough. It's the wild White Water-lily - Nymphaea alba.

The Sunny Southeast

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 05:41:29 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

To the south of Wicklow are more lands named by the vikings, Wexford and Waterford (originally Wexfjord and Waterfjord) which are together known as the Sunny Southeast as they are the most consistently sunny places in Ireland. And the harvest was on, with armies of tractors and combines in convoys travelling the narrow roadways. It was a nce day too though, but not quite as nice in Wicklow as it was down in Wexford, where I took this shot.

The Long and Winding Road

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 13:35:16 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

For the song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUO7N-zSMYc

Taken from near the waterfall at the very back wall of Glendalough valley. Immediately below is the remains of a town that was built in the 19th century to house lead miners. It's a land of rabbits, hares, deer, goats and ravens. This valley was carved out by a glacier during the last Ice Age.

Summer Blooms

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 12:17:06 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

We've had some depressingly overcast skies this summer, today included, but yesterday I took my mother to buy some plants. Plants are one of her passions.

A Painted Lady

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 08:03:59 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

A few days ago the temperature suddenly rose, and reached a nice 27 Celsius. That day I saw the only Painted Lady I've seen all summer. She must have flown up from Morocco on one of the few southern proper southern currents we've had this year. Maybe she even came from France...hard to know. but getting the photo was difficult because a very high hedge was chosen as perch, and this dawkward angle too.

Dream Beetle

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 06:21:35 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

This amazing longhorn beetle is Strangalia quadrifasciata, which I have only seen once before, five years ago on a flower in the garden. This one was on the side of the road on hogweed as I did the weekly butterfly transect. It is a good size without being particularly big, but the incredible pattern and bright spots make it look much larger than it is. A beetle to rival a butterfly in colour.

By the floral furnace

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 16:48:41 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

A little ten-spot ladybird on a rock near some bright chrysanthemums planted by the railway.

Sightseeing on the Cliffs

nobody@flickr.com (sam2cents) — Thu, 31 May 2012 16:23:53 -0700

sam2cents posted a photo:

A perfect day for old fashioned photography.