Despite all the storms raging on our Atlantic coasts, the latest season of scrub cutting work is well under way on the islands. Views of fields that were once covered in scrub are now green again, boreens choked up with briars are now clean allowing access to fields...

Although apparently the weather hesitates in showing her happiness about the completion of winter season, I feel, smell and I can even see spring is there. Albeit the day appears to be dull there is always a glint of sun emerging unexpectedly. Sometimes I feel her...

Over 25 years ago, the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies asked me to document the spoken Irish of Inis Mór in the Aran Islands. No serious study of Inis Mór Irish had been done there since the Danish scholar Holger Pedersen and the German scholar Franz Nikolaus...

Purification Like a snugly coiled cat behind the stove, just awaking from a deep and comfortable sleep. Drowsily she blinks with her eyes as if to consider whether it is worthwhile to enervate further action while she is still in a trance of slumber. Lingering she...

It is that time of the year after the storms when the local farmers start to collect the seaweed for their fields . Looking at this abundant resource that nature provides one is constantly amazed by the painterly richness, color, tones, and textures. Through the...

The first days of the new year have bought a reprieve from storms Eva , Desmond, and Frank which battered the western shores with a ferocity few of us can remember.   Having enjoyed a glorious October and November when the island reigned supremely in the beautiful...

Early in the morning it is when I step outside. With the darkness the quality of the night is still around me; it feels comfortable. Like a woolen blanket wrapped around me. There is no wind and the sky is clear. No clouds are to be seen. Venus, one of the planets, is...

It will pass as it always did and it always will be. The only thing is that one can never be sure about the moment “when”. Of course with the up to date technology a lot of movements is possible to check beforehand but still. A wintry day Since last night there is no...

The species-rich grasslands of the Aran Islands are the forage resource for the production of livestock on the islands. These two pictures of the same cow taken last week and in February 2014 show that such grasslands also supply the forage during the winter months. ...

Beautiful November days on Inis Mór last week, and the Bloody Crane’s-bill, Geranium sanguineum, are still in flower. Cattle have started grazing the ‘Winterage’ - grass grown throughout the summer to make a standing crop which is then grazed by livestock throughout...

Wished I could frame them in. . . Sun of October On the wire that early morning not just one but, if I counted well, seventy or even more of them were there. Side by side, completely immersed in toileting themselves for the day to come. Then, all of a sudden, breaking...

Inishbofin farmers met with Aran Island farmers and the AranLIFE team this week to discuss the successful ongoing progress of the AranLIFE project.       Chas feirmeoirí as Inis Bó Finne le feirmeoirí Árann agus foireann AranLIFE an tseachtain seo chun dul chun cinn...

  Keen Bird Watchers have been known to wait a lifetime to photograph such a rare bird......

Summer Those familiar sounds of rattling prams sometimes even guided by a “hic” too, coming down the road is still in my ear and so is the almost penetrating sizzling of tyres of the bicycles on wet tarmacan hurrying down the hill, with suddenly a hold on at the...

Another Summer is on the wane.  Though wetter than usual this summer has been a very good one, for I have spent many happy days on each of the Aran Islands.   They have become my special place to roam, to bird-watch, and to daydream.  Each visit brings a new awareness...

Located just off the coast of Galway are the Aran Islands, one of Ireland’s most famous and treasured places. These unspoiled islands attract thousands of tourists each year in search of the Ireland that many thought was lost long ago. Despite their small size, there...

Lasta Mara In a split second everything just came back to me; the loud horn for example of the Lasta Mara, the freight boat, which brought the biggest secret ever and the very first dug potatoes of the season donated out of gratitude for her coming. Fertilizer for...

At present we are inundated with Italian and French visitors coming to enjoy the peace, calm, and cool weather we have been having this summer as opposed to the inferno, heat and humidity that they have been experiencing on the continent. I am reminded of an anecdote...

Daybreak in August One minute later In a couple of minutes the coloured scene in front of me changed completely. Amazing atmosphere While it was growing from dark, darker into darkest, Dark Darker Darkest I came to understand why you would not speak here on Inis Meáin...

Between night and dawn At dawn Another day, another pair. Even another colour. The same size though. Nearly every morning around the same time I lay down a different pair on the brown polished shelf. Pure pleasure it is for me to give them their nicely tugged in...

Inis Meáin Puffing hole In fact it was only just a tiny little scrap out of your entire life time on the island that I got to know you. For it was here on Inis Meáin that you were born and bred. Amongst your family, your brothers and sisters and all those living...

In Germany, when I sleep in my highrise apartment in the city centre, I dream of Inis Mór. She comes to me in the mind’s eye, approaching me over the horizon, as if I am skimming the Atlantic ocean in flight. She looms before me in Galway bay, the sea foam exploding...

  This particular red bike which is parked on a rail at the Pier of Kilronan next to Aran Bike Hire, is proving very popular with visitors. Apart from the swanky red color, it has a basket, a carrier, and a super comfy seat. Was it mentioned that the bike had 21 gears?……

The post Bike Hire Inis Mor – Red Bike appeared first on Aran Bike Hire.

Midsummer Going down the hill I saw them coming… They just were taking the turn around the corner. A good big bunch of them all together. And they really were speeding! May be this happened because they just now lost their coats? Then, all of a sudden there was that...

Good Morning, At the very heart of this unique and beautiful island is community and the essence of community, is family. If Aran was a man ...... My father taught me, and more importantly, showed me that in a family,...

Sure he must have felt his reasons why he slipped in. Was it perhaps the light which shone so brightly from the inside or maybe the heavenly sounds elicited from the harp? Anyway both of them had the quality to prepare him a warm welcome. Actually thinking back, I...