A desire to "leave a woodland for the generations to come" was the motivation behind a project on the Winter Solstice that witnessed the planting of 500 saplings of a cherished native species - the holly - on The Barna Way farm in Ballybunion.
It is there that Rena Blake's family has farmed for generations, where a belt of trees planted by her forebears 100 years ago provided the shelter for an extraordinary new greening along the Wild Atlantic Way. For the 500 hollies planted by photographer Rena and her artist spouse Lisa Fingleton are but the latest shoots of a plantation of nearly 10,000 native species of tree the pair set on their eco, social farm last June. It's an initiative managed by Greenbelt through the Native Woodland Scheme, that has also seen local Cahill's SuperValu coming on board through the Woodland Environmental Fund.