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Mayo Walks Nature Trail

Under Downpatrick Head

Like the Dead Sea parting for Moses, the ocean had obligingly receded so we could scramble down the cliff and over the steep stairways of shell-encrusted sea ledges to the cathedral cave beneath Downpatrick Head that frames one of the most exciting vistas in Ireland. I was about to say it’s a view to die […]

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Forest Walks Home Nature Trail

Bugles in Belleek

The bundles of bugles along the trail in Belleek Wood herald the arrival of mid-summer in this Moyside paradise where the unassuming flower blooms in a shaded fernery of unfurling green beneath a canopy of lanky larch and leggy hawthorn. From a distance the bugle is not a show-stopper; its true beauty is only fully […]

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Home Mayo Walks Nature Trail

Wildness on our doorstep

Nature is taking advantage of the absence of human activity during Lockdown; left unchecked by the hand of man there is an explosion of wildness even in urban areas like Ballina.

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Home Mayo Walks Nature Trail

A foggy sunrise

An early morning walk took me into a foggy, mysterious world of curious shapes, faint silhouettes and a monochrome, wintry landscape not yet warmed by the rising sun.

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Forest Walks Home Nature Trail

Blackberry picking in Ballycastle

My purple fingers gave the game away. The tell-tale signs of my blackberry picking on a sunny afternoon as I slowly feasted my way along the briers fringing a hilly boreen near Ballycastle.

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Home Nature Trail

Foxgloves in bloom

It’s early July and the tall and elegant foxgloves are in bloom along hedgerows and wild places all over Mayo. Its bright purple, bell-like flowers make the foxglove one of the most imposing and opulent of all our native wildflowers and its medicinal properties are used to treat heart failure.

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Home Mayo Walks Nature Trail

The joys of spring

We miss so much that past generations loved – the walk along a quiet country road or boreen. Following the green line as I like to call it – that mossy band of worn grass flecked with cheerful daisies unfolding down the centre of the quiet byway inviting the walker to stroll further into the […]

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Forest Walks Home Nature Trail

A walk in Turlough Park

It’s early March and Nephin is snow-capped once more. But just a few days ago February borrowed from early summer to present us with a delightful week of warm sunshine.

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Home Nature Trail

Rainbow over Enniscrone

The weather forecaster said changeable in the west with scattered showers and sunshine. Along the Enniscrone promenade and coastal walk, it was blowing a rain-laced gale.

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Abbeys Forest Walks Home Nature Trail

Mayo’s Celtic Rainforest

Cong Wood is one of Mayo’s temperate rainforests – typical of lush, green and mostly deciduous woodlands found along the wet and mild Atlantic coastal counties of Ireland and the UK. These beautiful native and ancient woodlands are commonly known as Celtic Rainforests where nature abounds. In Cong, this exciting and wonderful ecosystem can be […]