Shifting Seasons

I went out to the Bog Road between Clifden and Letterfrack to take some photographs this week. It was a clear evening and I expected to be able to see the Twelve Bens Mountain range beyond the bog and heathers but I found something else instead – the landscape seemed  to shimmer, suspended between Summer and Autumn in the evening light. The heathers still abound in gorgeous clumps of pink but the grasses are turning from green to a tawny orange colour. In a couple of weeks they will look like they are on fire in spite of the lower temperatures.

Here are some more pictures below. It was windy so the images are a little blurred but I think this captures the atmosphere.

 

Bog and heathers

 

 

 

 

It may sound strange but I like this next one because the cut bog reminds me of a wound. The grasses are like a layer of skin over the marrow and bones of the black bog.

 

Boglands between Letterfrack and Clifden

 

 

 

 

I stood on a mound to take this one – the neatly stacked turf dries in the evening breeze and is almost ready to take in. The changing colour of the grasses is palpable, I love it’s coppery glow.

If you click on the image, you will get a better sense of it. I am really looking forward to using these images and getting back to some painting soon.

 

Stacks of turf

Late Summer Hedgerows

The roadside is brightened with mounds of purple and yellow colour at the moment – the long flowering gorse ( remember when I took some photos of the first Spring gorse earlier this year? ) and the purple heather.

 

Heather and Gorse

 

 

 

The other colour that is starting to appear is the orange of the Montbretia plant. It has been visible until now as bright green clumps along the roadside.

 

Montbretia

 

 

 

 

The sight of the first few blooms makes me a tiny bit sad because it signals the beginning of the end of the Summer (what Summer I hear you say?) In a couple of weeks, these grassy banks will be bursting with swooping orange flowers. Here’s some more pictures.

 

Montbretia flowers

 

 

 

 

This next close up makes me think of Triffids

 

Close up of Montbretia plant