Trusk Lough A Waterway

Trusk Lough, a mountainy lake , a tarn , lies 5km from the town of Ballybofey. It is a popular spot with locals who go to fish, swim ,walk or meet up for a chat there . On a sunny afternoon you will see the people come, some walk ,some drive or cycle , drawn

Read More

Uisce agus Inbhear

Bogaimis siar chuig na seascaidí i gCorcaigh. Bhíomar inár gcónaí i mBaile an Locha – ach loch ní raibh ann! Bhí taithí againn ar dhul go dít an “Lough”, ceart go leor, ach bhí sin i mBaile Féitheán, thart ar dhá mhíle go leith ó Bhaile an Locha de shiúl na gcos. Is cuimhin liom

Read More

Unchanging

I was eighteen and in the Ballinrobe area, my father was fixing a bull-dozer and I was his helper. Father and son working together but for all that I was no help to him that day, we were in a field on a blazing summer’s day and the heat made you feel lazy. There was

Read More

Water Water Everywhere

My childhood home was perched on the edge of the Atlantic in the village of Mullaghgloss, in Renvyle. From our front door I could see the Mayo coast, the cliffs of Achill, Clare Island and Inish Turk. The sea was a constant in our lives with all its moods. Sometimes it would be flat calm

Read More

Water Dog at Poulaphouca

When I was young in the 1950’s we lived in Dublin but every summer we decamped for two months to a caravan near Blessington, in a field beside Poulaphouca Lake. There I had the freedom to roam with my dog Pickles. He was a very special dog. His mother was a pure bred Scotty and

Read More

The Timeless Broadmeadow

The Broadmeadow river curls around the centre of Ashbourne, Co. Meath, injecting a beautiful, ever-moving, natural entity into the urban backdrop of my home town. The river has been abused by pollution in the past, but has now been rejuvenated to a state of good health; perfect for plants and animals to flourish. One of

Read More

The Weir

I was taken by surprise when I took a detour to have a look at the weir of my childhood – a feature of my 7 or 8-year-old summer. The weir of my memory had high riverbanks that needed a dangle by the arms and drop from the bank to get to the concrete, landing

Read More

The Life of a Swan

There is a pond in Carriglea Shanballymore about 4km from my home and I was delighted when a pair of swans came to make their home there in the spring. They have been coming there for a number of years. They made a nest and the Pen which is a female swan laid 6 eggs

Read More

The Lingaun

I grew up with the sounds of the Lingaun river. My first headlong thrust into life echoed her frenetic gush from the womb of the mountain. As my mother kept vigilant watch over me, Slievenamon too stood guard over her offspring. My first tentative steps were in unison with her erratic attempts to form into

Read More

The Little Brook and the World

Many years ago, I used to spend two weeks of every summer break at my Grandparents’ and that was always the highlight of my summer. Granny told many stories from the past, but Grandad only had one story. He told me that story once every year: it was about a little brook in the nearby

Read More

The longest week on the Riverbank

My great grandad was a great man for oral history. He was born in 1915 and lived in Moydow, Co longford, so his story telling ability spanned for over a century, for he lived until he reached the age of 101 and died in 2016. His ability to tell a yarn was very unique and

Read More

The New Discovery of the Water Fish

I have three friends that I took a trip in the car to Laytown beach a month ago. When we were there, we went into the sea, and we found a new discovery – An animal about a metre long, with …. a yellow tail, a black mouth a white body a blue head and

Read More