Space – Page 2 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

A Bit About Coolranny Townland

Neat and tidy

October 13, 2022October 10, 2022 MichaelStephenWills

2014, the count of townlands on and around the island of Ireland was 61,098 with most of Irish Gaelic origin predating the Norman invasion, first recorded in 12 century church records. The names have a pride of place reflected in the beauty of the namestones along Torr Road.

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Namestone on Torr Road in Coolranny townland.

The 82 acres of Coolranny forms a slice of land running from a ridge to Loughan Bay off the North Channel of the Irish Sea across from Scotland.

See this post for a description of wildflowers flowering here in the month of June.

A spic and span cottage on Torr Road, maybe the rectory for the Saint Mary’s Star of the Sea church.

An informative placard.

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Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Torr Head Wildflower Meadow

can you see any other flowers/plans in this photograph? Please leave a comment if you do.

October 7, 2022October 4, 2022 MichaelStephenWills15 Comments

We parked below the Coast Guard station, headed toward the height of Torr Head. I was stopped in my tracks by the hillside meadow wildflower profusion.

Here are a few I identified, listed by common name: Bluebell, Daisy, Meadow Buttercup, Sea Campion, Yarrow. We love daisies and buttercups around home. We spotted Sea Campion on the Dingle Peninsula, as well. Yarrow is common through Ireland. I don’t recall seeing bluebells anywhere else.

It was the bluebells in this photograph that clued me into why I took a photograph of the hillside. The view north takes in coastal sheep pasture looking on a portion of North Channel and the Irish island Rathelin.

The web page I used for identification was wildflowersofireland.net . Great information and links to the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland with a distribution map.

Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

A Bit About Torr Head

the information board is not to be outdone

October 6, 2022October 4, 2022 MichaelStephenWills11 Comments

Twenty five minutes before the photos of Pam on Torr Head we enjoyed this view from high above. The placard captures and explains a great deal.

There is at least one tanker ship traversing the North Channel. You can just make out the Torr Road we followed through those farm buildings to the parking near the Coast Guard Station.

Informational Placard near Coast Guard Station

Here is a post published last year with more views of this coast.

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Copyright 2022 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Pam’s Views of the Causeway V

Baby-Finn

July 16, 2020June 27, 2020 MichaelStephenWills1 Comment

For Pam’s return trip I recall a favorite episode of Finn McCool’s, the mythical hunter-warrior associated with the Giant’s Causeway. Fearing a match with an opponent sure to defeat him, Finn relied on the wits of his wife, Oona, who dressed him up as a baby. She made griddle cakes, hiding an iron skillet in one or two. The giant, given the iron cakes, suffered broken teeth. Baby-Finn wolfed his cakes down. Overawed, the giant fled back to Scotland, fearing to face the man who’d grow from a baby such as that, tearing up the road (The Giant’s Causeway) behind him, to prevent Finn from following.

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Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Pam’s Views of the Causeway IV

The Far Extent

July 15, 2020July 15, 2020 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

Pam hiked as far as the Red Cliffs. Click me for more information about these deposits of weathered volcanic rock.

The cliff trail ended at a barrier, with sunlight running out Pam turned around.

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Pam’s Views of the Causeway III

Dangerous Cliffs

July 14, 2020June 26, 2020 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

We know of the danger of cliffs from our Finger Lakes Gorges. That solid edge can be anything but.

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Pam’s Views of the Causeway II

Walking the Giant’s Causeway

July 13, 2020June 26, 2020 MichaelStephenWills9 Comments

Pam continued past the Causeway, exploring other features on a path along a broad, rocky beach.

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Pam’s Views of the Causeway I

Walking the Giant’s Causeway

July 12, 2020July 15, 2020 MichaelStephenWills9 Comments

While I was living the dream on the pile, Pam took a long walk up the cliff. Here is a series of photographs she snapped with the Samsung Galaxy.

Pam explores the entry (click for my post “Volcanic Dike”) and walks by the Causeway. We see it here from the back side. The lines of columns is striking.

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Polygonal

Articulated Building Blocks

June 22, 2020June 15, 2020 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Look closer at the basalt column featured in yesterday’s post.

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Basalt Columns

Articulated Building Blocks — HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

June 21, 2020June 21, 2020 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

“List of places with columnar jointed volcanics” is a Wikipedia page, over a hundred sites across the globe and high resolution images of Mars, these columns of Giant’s Causeway are no less marvelous for being the most famous of a phenomenon well documented.

A pile of articulated blocks, ready for assembly, next to orderly placed columns forming a pavement into the sea. Across the way, on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, a matching pavement. “Jointed” means one surface of each block is convex, the other concave, two blocks fit together.

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