A perfect walk this morning

The forecast was for sun this morning, with showers this afternoon.  Exactly what transpired.  Having woken up very early, I took advantage of the sunshine to head to a popular walk near Sligo: Slish Woods Forest Preserve.

It’s a walk along Lough Gill, a beautiful lake near Sligo, about 30 minutes away from the house.  The loop walk itself takes you along the shore (with amazing views) and then loops back through the forest.

It’s particularly biodiverse, apparently, along the lake, and it certainly seemed delightful to me — filled with wildflowers and mosses.  It’s relatively easy to spot what are remnant natives in the understory — and the native oak, birch, aspen, and pine that make up the canopy — this was a biodiverse preserve, so is exceptionally nice, as described in the online Sligo Walks website, and certainly looked so to me.

I’ll post some photos now:  just a reminder, if you get an email feed, they won’t show up unless you click through to my actual post.  Just another glitch with using Blogger, I guess.

A venerable native oak, spared from logging because of its island habitat.

A view across Lough Gill

Cymbalaria, Bellis perennials, and mosses at Paynes Castle.  I wish I had a rock wall like this!

A view of a smaller Lough looping back towards Sligo.

And the tawny hills at the beginning of the walk.

A wonderful day spent in Ireland.