Bluebells at Moore Abbey Wood

Moore Abbey Wood is a woodland area of approximately 250 acres of conifer and broadleaf trees, in Monasterevin County Kildare. St Evin founded a monastery here in the 5th century (Monasterevin) which fell into decay in the 9th century and was re-founded as a Cistercian monastery in the 12th century. Later the abbey and manor was granted to the son-in-law of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland whose name was Edward Moore; hence Moore Abbey.

There are well made pathways, picnic sites and walking routes ideal for viewing the different types of woodland, vegetation and wildlife. The site comprises a variety of broadleaf and conifer trees, mainly beech, ash and oak, Norway spruce and Douglas fir. The fauna includes the grey squirrel, badgers, pheasant and numerous other species of birds. The wood has a beautiful display of bluebells in early summer – and this is what I came to photograph.

On a previous visit two years ago, I was still operating on my Nikon P7100 compact camera. This time I was armed with my Nikon D7100 DSLR – and the difference is apparent in terms of the detail and clarity I was able to capture. Speaking of detail, I tend to use low-resolution files on this blog site, suitable mainly for on-screen viewing. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy these woodland images from my visit to Moore Abbey Wood.