SNOW IN DONEGAL

Snow on Errigal, County Donegal

Driving through County Donegal on the 17th of October this year, we were surprised to see snow so early in the year but there it was in all it's beauty atop the highest mountain in Donegal, Errigal.

It looked so pretty we pulled over to let me get out with my camera to capture the moment.  The photographs turned out very nicely but the one above is my favourite one.  We were actually at least seven miles from Errigal but I enlarged and cropped the photograph which makes it seem as if we were much nearer all the better to see the snow and clouds around our highest peak.

I tweeted the photograph and it ended up having almost 3,000 views and was picked up by an internet weather news site slot who then put it on their facebook page where it was copied to lots of facebook users page and was 'liked' around 300 times.  It was put on the Shaun Doherty Show's wall on facebook too.

It was featured on Martin King's weather spot on TV3 and later in the evening I received an email from someone from the internet weather news site to give me a link to it on YouTube which shows it getting 'pic of the day' on the Meteor weather slot on FYI.

Not bad for a simple photograph of snow and clouds on our highest mountain eh?

It's not just we who love Donegal eh?

OH DEAR, OH DEER!

The last two days in Donegal have been fabulous ~ blue skies and sunshine so obviously I just had to get out and about with my camera. 

However, driving between Glenties and Doochary yesterday, I came across a very sad sight.  A magnificent deer lying dead at the side of the road.  Pulling over to take photographs might seem an odd thing to do but it is what I did. 

Dead Deer Donegal

It is only the second dead deer I have seen on my travels around the county which is pretty surprising as there are so many deer in certain parts of the county and although some areas are fenced, many more are not.  Even those areas that are fenced still can't contain agile deer totally and so accidents do happen when they wander onto our roads.

They are a massive danger to people using the road as impact with one could cause very serious personal damage not to mention a lot of damage to a vehicle.  Yes, there are signs warning drivers of the danger of deer running onto the road, but I travel around a lot and have only seen a handful of deer wandering around and so maybe we become complacent to the danger both to the deer and to ourselves as the driver of vehicles.

The dead deer yesterday however brought it all home just how dangerous it can be.  This deer was a pretty large animal and I can't imagine the damage the vehicle that hit him suffered not to mention the pain the poor animal must have felt.  I just hope he died quickly and at least someone moved him off the road where he could have cause further damage.

So sad ...

So remember, when driving around areas of Donegal where there are deer, take extra care ~ for your own sake and for the sake of these magnificent creatures.