Mar

22

The title of a piece in todays Irish Times magazine supplement by Eoin Butler. Still getting used to the new revamped edition, and still far from decided or whether I like it or not. Certainly the supplement has not changed my view that it’s just one long advertisement…

Anyway, according to David Zike, and avid American Surfer based in Dublin who was interviewed for the piece - Australians are

“Extremely cocky. Friendly too, but only as long as get get all the waves. Your typical Australian surfer reckons that, because he works in a bar in Strandhill, that means he owns the beach.”

So it seems then that stereotypes most definitely exist on water as well as land.

Butler suggests that as far as top surfing beaches in Ireland are concerned, Lahinch and Bunder are still really popular. The more discerning might check out Easkey, Lissadell and Strandhill in Sligo, as well as Kilcummin, and Keel Beach (Achill) in Mayo.

Jul

17

A recent trip (well, before the last 2 months of rain) to the Glen revealed this fern monster. Each frond is approximately 2 metres long - the blurry photograph does not really do it justice.

Giant Fern 2

It has been suggested to me that this is the Broad Buckler Fern (Dryopteris austriaca) - information like this is difficult to pin down online.

Last weekend I purchased Complete Irish Wildlife in an effort to have a backpack friendly reference for walks. It’s pretty comprehensive guide to all things relating to wildlife, flora and fauna on the island of Ireland. For example, did you know that we have over 70 different types of moths?

Anyway, according to page 276 of this guide this fern is “favouring damp woods, heaths and mountain slopes, usually on acid soils.” Sounds right, though the description of frond length up to 1m does not tally.

If this is not a Broad Buckler Fern, could someone put me straight?

Apr

28

Sligo Field Club are planning an outing to Strandhill on 9th May, meeting @6.15 at St Ann’s Church. St. Ann’s itself and Rathcarrick House are the purpose of the visit - more details when they are available.

I’ve been to a number of Field Club events over the past number of years, and they are extremely good. Lots of interesting people, with a great depth of local knowledge.

Mar

5

The following extract is from the local Strandhill Development Plan, and describes the geography of the pensinsula.

“Strandhill is located 5 miles (8 km) from Sligo town on the western extremity of the Coolera Peninsula. The village extends along the north-western foothills of Knocknarea mountain and is surrounded on three sides by the coast: Cummeen Strand to the north, Sligo Bay to the west and Ballysadare Bay to the south.

On the eastern side of Strandhill, the ground rises dramatically towards the mountain and its northern shoulder extension, which provide a visual barrier between the settlement and the rest of the peninsula.

The general landscape is undulating and influenced by small-scale agricultural activity, which has resulted in a pattern of small fields with mature tree belts and hedgerows, giving way to machair and sand dunes at the coast.”

You can get a nice appreciation for some of this landscape by the birds eye view offered by Google Maps and Google Earth. In particular when when the latter is installed and used in conjunction with this plugin - it enables you to view digital photographs of the area mapped onto the satellite imagery.

It is disappointing however that the satellite imagery at the moment for the whole peninsula is split in terms of quality. The eastern side of a North North-West divide (on a line roughly running from Coney Island just to the east of Knocknarea) is the side which is high quality. To the west of this line is not so good. Difficult to explain in words - have a look here at Google Maps - and you will see what I mean…..

Feb

12

This is a nice little two minute clip taken in November 2006 from the highest sand dune on the beach in Strandhill. Nice panorama initially looking back to Knocknarea and the village, then over toward Benbulben (1:05), over to Dromore West (1:35), and back in to Ballisodare Bay, Culleenamore (1:52).

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