Ash Trees

In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king, and in the Burren, where most trees barely make it above the pavement, the Ash is like a giant redwood, even though the biggest specimens might be only 20m high. Despite the biting Atlantic gales and the seemingly soiless rocky terrain, ash trees struggle up out of narrow grykes and slowly, with many a twisting by the wind, make their way skywards. Their pale bark is sculptural in the winter and the translucent leaves make delicate, under-sea light in the woods in Spring.

Ralph Doyle