Ireland: the landscapes

I took a ton of pictures whilst I was in Ireland, but a lot of them were taken for purely documentary purposes to supplement my field notes. I found it a really odd mental shift to make, to not worry about lighting, composition or what settings I needed - I basically left my camera in auto the whole time. So odd! I took my SLR out with me on a couple of the days, but if I had a lot of stuff to carry then I used my compact instead. I always find it really strange to go back to using a camera with no viewfinder that I can hold in one hand!

The landscape of the region we were based (Connemara) is shaped by some pretty unique geology, staring at rocks isn't usually top of my 'fun things to do' lists, but once you know what you're looking for its actually pretty cool to start looking at things in a little bit more detail, whether its individual rock outcrops or entire landscapes.

Lough Mask - This was the lake that was right next to the field centre, its absolutely huge! 

Another view out over Lough Mask

Some of the best examples of pitted limestone pavements in the world! This was such an odd landscape, it seemed almost pre-historic.

Climbing to the top of some of these hills in the freezing cold wasn't the highlight of the trip, but the view was definitely worth it!

The last couple of days of the trip were spent doing group research projects. We trekked through a wood looking for suitable transect sites and stumbled across this clearing. R was convinced that a dinosaur was going to appear at any moment. Instead it just rained. 

This type of lake is called a Tarn and forms in an overdeeping caused by glaciers. The lines you can see on the hillslope are boundaries for fields, its crazy to think that people used to farm up there!

The only downside to stopping to take pictures...the rest of the group ends up miles ahead of you!