Day 1🔖

Monday, 1 February 2021

Today was the first day of our “Nature week”. I had never done anything of this sort, and I was curious. We had planned where to go every day of the week, and decided that today we would go to visit the lake. We had gone there many times by car, but few walking, and we had the opportunity to observe the landscape more thoroughly. I saw things I had never seen before and stopped sometimes to take photos of the beautiful landscape.

But not everything was happiness and rejoicing. When we got out, small drops of water were falling and there was mist in the air. The temperature was low, and the streets were deserted. We were embarking to a journey of uncertainty, as we didn’t know when and in what conditions we would return. Although there was no trace of a great deluge befalling over us, the stream of thin water drops remained stable. The mist, though not completely blinding, impeded us from seeing far away, and our clothes were getting wet. An incessant noise of cars blasted through our ears in the path to nature, and deforested woodlands could be seen. Nevertheless, we could enjoy the fresh air and the line of trees stretching on both sides of the road. We didn't do a lot of photos on the way, as we established that we would do that on the return.

The first photo we took was of the lake, although we had not yet arrived at our destination. It was the first clear sight of the lake’s immensity, heightened by the thick mist, and from where you could see the other shore of the lake. We also analysed how close this house and road were to the lake, and hence how prone they were to flooding. We planned on taking no photos on the going, but this definitely attracted our attention and we decided to stop and take a photo. I think the landscape would have been better appreciated if the mist was nowhere to be seen, but this game a mysterious aura to the panorama.

After that, we didn’t stop until reaching the lake. “The lake” is too broad of a term to refer to it, so I’m going to specify: The lake is called “Lough Derg”, and it is fairly big. It connects on both sides to the river Shannon, which is Ireland’s longest river, and it has several popular spots. One of these spots, to which we went today, is around the area of Ballycuggaran, and it is a preferred site on sunny days. Because today was not a sunny day (nor the weekend), the place was free of people. Instead, the territory had been taken by various birds: Swans, ducks, etc. These birds were either on the lake or on the grassy shoreline, and we were able to get close enough to take photos. 

As mentioned before, the mist altered the general landscape, but it could still be seen clearly. The grassy plain seems barren of any living being, but if you get closer, you see various types of birds, and that’s what we did. We didn’t get extremely close to them for fear of running away or attacking us, but enough to get a good quality picture. I had seen these birds before, on a previous excursion to this lake, but I had never really bothered. Today, however, I tried to identify which species they were and listen closely to their cacophony, though with little success. After making photos of the diverse ducks and the landscape in general from the shore, we entered the forest on the right, which although not very extensive, it was the true part of being “absorbed in nature”.

While in the forest, we strolled around aimlessly, observing the different types of trees and sounds of birds. We saw the T-shaped docks, although we did not step foot on them because they had been disconnected  from the land through water. We picked up some rocks, made some photos, recorded the bird’s chant, and headed out, keen to go back home. I do not know if the lake shore is that bird’s natural habitat, but the small forest on the right was the “nature part of the trip”. Before and after, a monotonous grey cement walk extended for two or three kilometers, with excepcional interesting features such as mini cascades caused by small-intensity flooding or sights of the other side of the lake’s shore.

(Click to see more photos)