Black Swan in Newry Canal

Black Swan in Newry Canal

The Australian black swan (cygnus atratus) is, as its name implies, a native of Australia. It is very rarely found in the wild in Europe.

Eric Dempsey of Birds Ireland said: "Yes, it seems that your Black Swan is quite at home in County Down. No doubt an escapee from a collection somewhere. Collectors keep their birds from flying by clipping their flight feathers but of course these grow again and so many birds can then fly. Black Swans are non-migratory so would never ever occur naturally in Europe. Still, they are very beautiful additions to a lake."

Richard James, Wildlife Advisor of Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, told us: "There are many black swans that have escaped from captivity. There have been reports of a few pairs breeding in the UK. There doesn't seem to be a problem with black swans and our native wildfowl but, as with all introduced species, it is worth monitoring."

Photographs of the black swan in Dromantine lake in 2005

The Albert Basin, Newry

The Albert Basin, Newry

The Albert Basin is situated behind the Quays Shopping and Leisure Complex, Newry.

Completed in 1850, the Newry Ship Canal connects the Albert Basin and the Victoria Lock on the road to Omeath and Carlingford.

Two Donkeys

Two Donkeys for Sale

These two donkeys were peering from the back of a trailer at an Irish horse fair.

The Donkey

When fishes flew and forests walked

And figs grew upon thorn,

Some moment when the moon was blood,

Then surely I was born;

With monstrous head and sickening cry

And ears like errant wings,

The devil's walking parody

On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,

Of ancient crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,

I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears,

And palms before my feet.

G.K.Chesterton, 1894 - 1936

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Killevy Churches

Killevy Churches

St Moninna founded the convent of Killevy near the end of the 5th century. It survived as a house for nuns until it was dissolved in 1542. The Vikings from Carlingford Lough plundered it in 923.

The building in the photograph is two churches joined together. The west church (left hand side of photograph) is the only surviving pre-Norman church in County Armagh and one of only six or seven in the whole of Northern Ireland.

A pictorial map of 1609 shows that Killevy once had a round tower but it was blown down by a gale in about 1768.

Labhras O'Ceallach, Captain Redmond O'Hanlon's harper, wrote a lament for it:

'O steeple of Killevy

My grief to have thee down

If the two Redmonds were living

Thy top would not be broken.'

Camlough Lake

Camlough Lake

This is a view of Camlough lake, County Armagh, from Ballintemple Viewpoint

Beech Tree

Beech Tree Sky

"That thou, light-wingèd Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease."

John Keats 'Ode to a Nightingale'

“Under yonder beech-tree single on the greensward,

Couched with her arms behind her golden head,

Knees and tresses folded to slip and ripple idly,

Lies my young love sleeping in the shade.”

George Meredith (1828-1909)

Mourne Mountains

Getting away from it all in the Mournes