Hiya everyone, it’s been a while, sorry! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to make the last couple of formal outings but thanks to Mary and Seamus, leading trips to Lord Brandon’s Cottage and Fota Wildlife Park, I do have something to post this week. I’m going to cover them in reverse as Mary kindly sent me a few words for Lord Brandon Outing so over to Mary:

Hi all, Mary here!

I led the outing to Lord Brandon’s cottage which is located at the top of Upper Lake in Killarney. I did a bit of research beforehand – did you know that the cottage was once a grand hunting lodge and has a tale of love and betrayal! Very little is left of the old structure with the exception of a crumbling round tower. There are a couple of different tales behind why the tower near lord Brandon’s cottage was built. The first, and rather mundane, tale is that it was so constructed for Lord Brandon so that he could shoot deer from an elevated point. The second tale, and much more interesting and intriguing, says the tower was built to give Lord Brandon’s wife freedom as she complained that she was deprived of fresh air “freedom” while she was locked up. Apparently, and according to folklore, Lord Brandon imprisoned his young wife after he heard that she had an affair with Lord Melbourne, Britain’s future PM. This was a major sensation at the time and in 1929 the matter was taken to court after Lord Brandon found intimate letters between the two; resulting in a broken Lord Brandon moving to Mainland Europe to hide from the spotlight. Unfortunately after this, the cottage fell into a sorry state …

So now you know the history of the place back to my report on the outing. Along with Seamus, Denis, MaryAnn, Mary Rose, Marie, Angela & Sarah we started our walk around 9:30am, reaching the cottage in about 2 hours, having stopped several times for photos. We enjoyed tea and coffee at the cafe (btw, they only accept cash).

Boats arrived at 12:30, which made interesting shots and we admired (and took photos of) the renovated tower and wall. They have done a great job and we are hoping the cottage will be renovated soon. Denis and Seamus chatted with a boatman who mentioned an eagle in residence nearby, but we didn’t spot it – I think it must have been on its afternoon siesta when we passed 😂. Meanwhile we all took a rest before the walk back!

It was a beautiful day, and we felt lucky to live in such a gorgeous part of Ireland. Thanks to everyone for coming, and hopefully, we’ll see some great shots in our exhibition at Killarney House later this year.

Thanks Mary and thanks to Mary and Dennis for the photos too!

Now, I was supposed to lead the outing to Fota but we had to postpone due to bad weather so Seamus kindly covered for me so this is Seamus’s summary of the outing.

“6 club members (Mary, Iryna, Anne, Angela and John) and myself headed to Fota early on Saturday 29th March. There was a very light mist in the air when we arrived but it cleared quickly, and fortunately stayed dry, even brightening up later. As it was early in the season, it wasn’t busy but that suited us all. There were some animals didn’t show themselves – the red pandas in particular, much to Mary’s disappointment, but the lemurs and Colombian spider monkeys were entertaining and provided plenty of photo opportunities. We did, accidentally, split into too groups, but I think everyone had a great time and came away with lots of photos to process!!!”

I think Seamus felt bad that Mary didn’t get her photo of the Red Panda, so he took myself & Eric down on Tuesday for his second visit to the park in a few days! With my car in the garage for the second time in a week, it was a welcomed distraction! Anyways, I am pleased to report I got a photo of the elusive Red Panda so here it is!!!

I must say I thought the place was fabulous (despite the train not running and not many food options available). We had a great day snapping away and it made up for fact that Eric & I hadn’t been able to go with the main group the previous Saturday, so thank you Seamus!! I think I’ve gained a few extra muscles after carrying that 150-600mm lens around all day and I don’t know about the two guys, but I have about 600 photos to go thru!!!!!

Here are a few of my photos from the day including a very contortionistic (is that a word?) pelican, a double headed Giraffe, a baby monkey only a few days old, and the Kangaroo that nearly knocked me over after narrowly missing Seamus and the Columbian Spider Monkeys!!! Oh, and I think we found your Eagle, Mary!!!!

So what’s up next?  We are still looking at dates for the following outing(s). As soon as we’ve finalised things we’ll let you know. Again, anyone wanting to lead an outing let me know …

  • Rossbeigh Beach
  • North Kerry
  • Night time at Ladies View

Any other ideas, please forward them to myself or Mary and we will try to sort some more outings out.

Just to keep you reminded, this year our annual exhibition will be in Killarney House and Gardens for 2 months so to celebrate this, our theme will be Killarney National Park – please bear this in mind when you are out and about taking your images. For those that are unsure of what is covered by the national park check out https://www.nationalparks.ie/killarney/.

I’ll see you next time and if you have any photos from your week that you want to add to these updates and reports please do send them to me, cheers for now! Next in person Club meeting is on Thursday, 10th April at 7.30pm.

Please note all our outings are for members only. If you’d like to join our club please contact our club secretary on secretary@killarneycameraclub.ie