Nov

Amazing Places on Earth: The Burren

by Joyce McGreevy on November 13, 2018

The Burren is a geological wonder in Ireland, one of the most amazing places on Earth. (Image © iStock/Eugene Remizov)

The Burren reflects Ireland’s extraordinary geological heritage.
© iStock/Eugene_Remizov

Where Rocks Grow Wild

Torn between touring the Mediterranean and exploring the Arctic? See a bit of both, and experience Ireland’s natural beauty into the bargain! You can if you visit the Burren, where nature’s opposites create one of the most amazing places on earth.

Comprising less than 1% of Ireland’s national land cover, the Burren is a world of its own, quilted across northwest County Clare and southeast County Galway. More than 75% of Ireland’s native plant species flourish here, yet the Burren is 3,700 acres of glaciated rock.

A limestone valley near Fanore, Ireland shows why the Burren is a geological wonder in Ireland, one of the most amazing places on Earth. (Image © Darach Glennon darachphotography)

Like a protective shoulder, the Burren surrounds the community of Fanore.
© Darach Glennon/Darachphotography

A Place of Stone

The Burren is a geopark, a UNESCO-designated area of geological importance. The name Burren comes from the Gaelic word Boireann, meaning “a place of stone.” In contrast to the rich flora that grows in grikes, or cracks in the stone, vast areas of the Burren are dramatically lunar.

In 1651 surveyor Edmund Ludlow, no fan of classic rock, derided the Burren as “a country where there is not water enough to drown a man, nor wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him.”

About 300 years later a visiting bicyclist (English poet laureate John Betjeman) described the “Stony seaboard, far and foreign,/ Stony hills poured over space, Stony outcrop of the Burren,/ Stones in every fertile place.”

Oh, but those stones aren’t just in the fertile place—they are part of its fertility.

A hiker contemplates the limestone pavement and Atlantic Ocean view from the Burren, a geological wonder in Ireland, one of the most amazing places on Earth. (Image © Ciana Campbell)

The natural limestone pavement is one of the rarest land forms in the world.
© Ciana Campbell

A Planet Revealed

The story of this geological wonder began 360 million years ago when Ireland was submerged under a tropical sea. As the waters receded, limestone sediment created a mind-blowing sculpture garden.

The karst landscape is a raw and stunning reminder that we live on a planet. Here, Earth’s bedrock is exposed and continually reshaped by rainwater.

Stone fences in Inis Mór, reminds us that 10,000 years ago the Aran Islands were part of the Burren, a geological wonder in Ireland and one of the most amazing places on Earth. (Image © Julie Cason)

Twenty miles away, the Aran Islands split from the Burren when sea levels rose
after the Ice Age. Above: Inis Mór.
© Julie Cason

A Place of Contradiction

In some areas, massive boulders known as erratics look as if they’ve been scattered by mythic giants. In other areas, flowers blanket thin, stony soil and emerge from stones like water from a fountain.

And not scraggly flowers, but the lush blooms you’d usually associate with tropical forests and Mediterranean gardens—orchids. Yes, Ireland has 28 species of native orchids, and 24 of them are found in the geopark of the Burren.

The Early-Purple orchid (orchis mascula) graces the the Burren, a geological wonder in Ireland and one of the most amazing places on Earth. (Image © iStock/ClaireORorke)

In spring, the Early-Purple orchid (orchis mascula) is the
first bloom to grace the Burren.
© iStock/ClaireORorke

A Place of Wonders

Here you’ll find flowers that, logically, shouldn’t co-exist: the Spring Gentian and the Mountain Avens. The intensely blue Spring Gentian has literal roots in the Balkans and parts of Asia. By contrast, the Mountain Avens is sub-arctic, a climber of Alpine slopes. Yet here in the Burren, they mingle.

Blue Gentian and Mountain Avens thrive in the Burren, a geological wonder in Ireland and one of the most amazing places on Earth. (Image in the public domain)

Mediterranean and Arctic-Alpine flowers thrive in the Burren’s nutrient-poor soil.

You’ll also find calcifuge—”lime-hating” species of plants—flourishing beside calcicole, lime-loving species. If ever there was a United Nations of flowers, the Burren is it.

Why such diversity? Cows. No, really.

Winterage Is Coming

Since the Neolithic era, farmers here have “walked the cattle” in a traditional practice known as Winterage. As winter nears, livestock are herded into the uplands. There they remove thick grass and weed species. This allows sunlight to reach the flora that lie dormant down below, safe from the trampling hooves.

And, oh what light. Sunlight here is famously high and dense, reflected by the sea and the limestone rocks. One might expect land exposed to the Atlantic to be bitter cold, but along comes another contradiction—the warming influence of the Gulf Stream.

As a result, Burren flowers don’t merely bloom, they burst forth from petra fertilis—the “fertile rock.”

Oh, I see: In the Burren, even the stones are alive.

With over 2,000 stone monuments, the Burren is one of Europe’s richest
archaeological landscapes. Above: Poulnabrone dolmen, a Megalithic tomb.
© Eoghan McGreevy-Stafford

In Sunlight and in Shadow

The Burren’s beauty shines just as bright at night. So says longtime Burren resident Ciana Campbell. “My love affair with the Burren began as we drove through it on a moonlit night in the late ’90s. The moonlight was reflected off the limestone pavement creating the most beautiful vista.”

At the time Campbell was a television and radio broadcaster for RTÉ in Dublin. “That experience confirmed my desire to move to County Clare and that became a reality a year later.”

A Mindful Place

Over the years, the Burren has become known as a “learning landscape,” a place to seek new perspective. In the words of the late Irish philosopher John O’Donohue, the Burren puts you in a “mindful mode of stillness, solitude, and silence, where you can truly receive time.”

In a must-hear 2008 interview with Krista Tippett, host of “On Being,” O’Donohue spoke of growing up in the Burren, which looked as if it had been “laid down by some wild surrealistic kind of deity.”

“Being a child and coming out into that,” recalled O’Donohue,”was like a huge wild invitation to extend your imagination. And it’s right on the edge of the ocean . . . so there’s an ancient conversation between the ocean and the stone going on. I think that was one of the recognitions of the Celtic imagination: that landscape wasn’t just matter, but that it was actually alive.”

A window-like opening in a stone wall offers new perspective in the Burren, a geological wonder in Ireland and one of the most amazing places on Earth. (Image in the public domain)

The Burren’s ancient stones offer a new perspective on nature’s beauty.

A Fragile Place

This raises another contradiction. As rugged as the Burren appears, it is remarkably fragile. A recent unfortunate trend among visitors to geoparks like this has been to build and post photos of stone towers. While this may feel like a gesture of homage, ecologically it is a serious act of damage.

So if you go, practice the richest contradiction of all, the Burren Code: First, leave no trace that you’ve been to a geological wonder, one of the most amazing places on Earth. Then, allow the Burren to become part of your inner landscape. To paraphrase my friend Ciana, it will create the most beautiful vista.

Thanks to all who contributed to this post, including Ciana Campbell, Julie Cason, Eoghan-McGreevy Stafford, and Darach Glennon.
Glennon’s photography of the West of Ireland is widely known and loved. Follow Darachphotography here and here.
Learn more about the Burren here and here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 2 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Ireland/Nature Discovery

Sep

Wild and Woolly Wordplay

by Joyce McGreevy on September 24, 2018

A red panda in Wellington, New Zealand reminds the writer that animal idioms continues to influence everyday language. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Red pandas, like this one at the Wellington Zoo, New Zealand, have influenced human language.
© Joyce McGreevy

Animal Idioms Around the World

Animal idioms have burrowed into everyday wordplay since Moses was a pup. It doesn’t take a fisheye lens to get the picture. Animal words prowl the planet.

You don’t have to be a bookworm or wear a deerstalker hat to ferret out examples. A simple mouse click ponies up swarms of animal buzzwords.

Fledgling Phrases

Animal idioms are cross-cultural and nest in every language. Some are as timeless as a phoenix rising from the ashes. Others are newly hatched.

A quail in California reminds the writer that animal names and animal idioms influence everyday language. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Bird idioms abound, so don’t quail. Have a lark and let wordplay take flight!
(Carmel, California)
© Joyce McGreevy

Consider the Red Panda Effect

People who experience this condition see things that aren’t there or misidentify what they do see. The term goes back to 1978 when a red panda escaped from a German zoo. People reported hundreds of sightings—long after the red panda had been found.

Seems our brains construct what we expect to see. Hence, the Red Panda Effect. Proving that’s what red all over isn’t always black and white.

Giraffe Language

Quick—what sound does a giraffe make? I don’t know either, but Giraffe Language is changing the way humans speak across cultures.

In French, peigner la giraffe (“combing the giraffe”) is to do a
pointless task. But that’s a horse of a different color.
© Joyce McGreevy

Giraffes have the biggest hearts of any land animal, a fact that inspired psychologist Marshall Rosenberg. As the founder of the Center for Nonviolent Communication, Rosenberg explored two genres of interpersonal communication:

Giraffe Language, the language of requests, respect, and compassion, and
Jackal Language, the language of demands, insults, and self-interest.

I hope we’ll consider that the next time we tweet or retweet.

A giraffe and an antelope in Wellington, New Zealand remind the writer that animal names, idioms, and terms, such as Giraffe Language, influence everyday language. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

We needn’t be birds of a feather to flock together, or animals of the same stripe to bond.
(Wellington, New Zealand)
© Joyce McGreevy

Weasel Words

Weasel words are all about evasion. They allow the user to avoid giving clear answers, so one might think this term reflects weasels’ ability to navigate tight spaces. In fact, weasel words come from an unproven belief that weasels can suck the insides out of an egg without affecting the shell.

Otters in Wellington, New Zealand remind one that animal idioms, animal names, and animal traits inspire everyday language, including wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

What member of the weasel family is as slippery as an eel? You otter know.
(Wellington, New Zealand) © Joyce McGreevy

Classic examples of weasel word language include:

“Research shows” (without citing data)
“This product is 30% better” (compared to what?)
“somewhat” or “in most respects” (kinda-sorta-maybe, or maybe not)

A meerkat in Wellington, New Zealand reminds the writer that animal names inspire everyday wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Weasel-like meerkats are neither weasels nor cats, nor mere. (Wellington, New Zealand)
© Joyce McGreevy

Busy as a Lizard?

Animal traits are often used to describe humans. Accordingly, someone can be as proud as a peacock, slippery as an eel, hungry as a horse, stubborn as a mule, graceful as a gazelle, and drunk as a skunk—though rarely all at once.

Some animal comparisons are less clear. In Australia, the equivalent of being “busy as a bee” is to work “flat out like a lizard drinking.” Huh?

It has to do with how rapidly lizards dart their tongues when drinking water. Oh, I see: Animal idioms can really take you down a rabbit hole.

A lizard in a pet parade in Bend, Oregon reminds one that animal idioms, names, and traits inspire everyday wordplay. (Image © Carolyn McGreevy)

That’s one very chill lizard at the Pet Parade in Bend, Oregon.
© Carolyn McGreevy

And what of “lounge lizard”? It describes a sleazy character who hangs out in bars looking for—well, not love, exactly. That expression seems unfair to real lizards, who are often adorable.

A lizard in Wellington, New Zealand reminds one that animal idioms, animal names, and animal traits inspire everyday language, including wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

No flies on you, Lizard Lips! (Wellington, NZ)
© Joyce McGreevy

Polar (Bear) Opposites?

Other animal idioms are contradictory. “To be an ostrich” is to stick your head in the sand, ignoring what’s going on around you. But ostriches are quick to stick their necks out.

Two ostriches in Wellington, New Zealand remind one that animal idioms, animal names, and animal traits inspire everyday language, including wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

More fluent in Jackal than Giraffe, these ostriches are mad as wet hens when . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

Ostriches and an antelope in Wellington, New Zealand remind one that animal idioms, animal names, and animal traits inspire everyday language, including wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

. . .a baby antelope tries to eat like a bird. (Wellington, New Zealand)
© Joyce McGreevy

How did the ostrich idiom begin? Pliny the Elder, an ancient Roman philosopher, believed incorrectly that ostriches hide their heads in bushes. Pliny the Younger would have corrected him but I guess the cat got his tongue.

Then there’s the expression, “to have a monkey on your back.” It means to be addicted or encumbered with a problem. But it could just as easily have meant to protect someone more vulnerable than you.

A mother and baby chimp in Wellington, New Zealand remind one that animal idioms, animal names, and animal traits inspire everyday language, including wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

In Wellington, New Zealand, Mum’s got your back. And vice versa.
© Joyce McGreevy

Monkeying Around

Speaking of monkeys, some cultures have had more fun than a barrel of ’em when it comes to animal idioms. Take the English expression “The cat is out of the bag.” In Dutch it becomes “Now the monkey comes out of the sleeve.”

Likewise, someone who doesn’t want to get involved in another’s issues might invoke this American colloquialism: “My dog ain’t in that fight.” In Poland, this idiom translates into, “Not my circus, not my monkey.”

Hay, Herd These?

Cows get a leg up in international animal idioms:

In the Netherlands, if you “pull an old cow out of the ditch,” you’re rehashing an old grievance.
In Sweden, “There is no cow on the ice,” means “No need to worry.”
In China, “to play piano for a cow” is like throwing pearls before swine. It means your audience can’t appreciate or understand you.

Cows in Lehinch, Co. Clare, Ireland remind one that animal idioms, animal names, and animal traits inspire everyday language, including wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“Okay, now you’re just milking it.” (Lehinch, Ireland)
© Joyce McGreevy

Animal Quackers

Many animal idioms have cross-cultural cousins:

In English, we try to get all our ducks in a row. In Portugal, “paying the duck” means taking the blame for something you didn’t do.
In English, someone who fakes being nice to hide ulterior motives is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” In Japanese, such a sneaky person “wears a cat on one’s head.”
The Indonesian equivalent is, “There’s a shrimp behind the rock!” Clearly, Indonesian shrimp are no mere prawns in the shell game.
By contrast, “to slide in on a shrimp sandwich” is how Swedes describe someone born to privilege—those lucky ducks who inherit “the goose that laid the golden egg.”

Linguistic Animal Planet

One could rabbit on till the cows come home about cross-cultural animal idioms. But I don’t want to be like a dog with a bone, so I guess I should clam up.

A lion in Wellington, New Zealand reminds one that animal idioms, animal names, and animal traits inspire everyday language, including wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

In France, you might “have a cat in your throat.” In New Zealand, this lion
suggests things could go the other way.
© Joyce McGreevy

Just remember: Somewhere in Buffalo, NY someone may be getting into a Bronco and listening to Drake or the Arctic Monkeys. A clothes horse in Chihuahua, Mexico could be swanning about on the dance floor. Someone sailing the horse latitudes might have raided a piggy bank to fly the coop to the Canary Islands.

Ewe never know.

Me, I’m going to squirrel away a few more animal idioms, then make a beeline for a catnap. After all this animal talk, I’m a little hoarse.

A Cooper’s hawk in Carmel, California reminds one that animal idioms, animal names, and animal traits inspire everyday language, including wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

That bird was watching me like a hawk. (Cooper’s hawk in Carmel, California)
© Joyce McGreevy

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 1 Comment

Nature Discovery/Proverbs & Sayings/Worldwide Sites

Aug

Nature Watch: California Sea Otter Savvy

by Meredith Mullins on August 13, 2018

A California sea otter, reminding us to be on nature watch to protect them. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Protecting the Southern Sea Otter

Who wins the coveted “Most Adorable” award in the marine mammal yearbook year after year?

The California Sea Otter—hands down (or paws up, depending on your perspective).

If you travel to the California Central Coast and look to the Pacific Ocean or its estuaries (or visit the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium), chances are good that you will see some playful Southern Sea Otters. And you’ll fall in love.

This threatened species is an ocean treasure of form and function . . . with a large dose of cute.

As you learn more about these intelligent creatures, the “Oh, I see” moments about their life and challenges will make them favorites for a long time.

A raft of California sea otters at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing, California, reminding us of our responsibilities on nature watch to protect them. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The Charismatic Sea Otter

What makes the California Sea Otter so special?

Their koala-like face sprinkled with long cat whiskers provides an intriguing mix of playfulness and inherent wisdom.
They sport a fur coat to die for (and they did—back in the fur trade days). We are fortunate that they have rallied from being almost extinct to a community of about 3200 on the California Central Coast (with the help of protection laws, of course).
Diving for food
© Meredith Mullins
The luxurious coat comes complete with pockets where they stuff their sea treasures. They’ve been seen to dive for food, and, if their paws are also going to be full, they stuff a few more shrimp or sand dollars in their pockets before they surface. Jackpot!
Munching on restaurant-quality shellfish
© Meredith Mullins
They are an eclectic blend of paws and flippers—with arms almost comically too short for their long streamlined bodies. But all parts work together so they are experts at diving for food, foraging for invertebrates (using their whiskers and paws), and finding tools to crack open the stubborn shells that house most of their food.
They are one of the few mammals to use tools and will make you smile with anthropomorphic appreciation as they attack a clam or abalone shell with a rock or whatever is handy (an abandoned sea-floating flip flop?)
Whatever tool is handy
© Sea Otter Savvy
They enjoy food with a crunch—restaurant-quality shellfish such as sea urchins, clams, mussels, crabs, snails, and abalone. (Note: The Monterey Bay Aquarium spends $15,000 a year to feed each of their rescued otters.)
When on land, sea otters look like their family cousins—weasels, ferrets, and badgers.
© Meredith Mullins
They have no blubber. Although this might seem like a weight watcher’s dream, they have to keep their metabolism high to stay warm—usually by eating about 25% of their body weight every day. (Think about it: If you’re a 180-pound person, you’d have to eat 20 pizzas a day. Too much?)
They also must groom their fur for 3–6 hours a day (perhaps a little longer on date night). They are trapping air between their outer hairs and underfur to make sure they stay warm. They are proud to have the densest fur on Earth, with up to one million hairs per square inch.
A stomach that doubles as a kitchen counter and dining room table
© Meredith Mullins
They have a streamlined body, with a stomach as flat as an aircraft carrier—perfect for preparing a feast and dining in style.
The sea otter also serves as an ecologic helper. Their favorite food is the sea urchin, which loves to feast on underwater forests. So, as they eat the sea urchins, they help to protect kelp forests for other creatures.

A California sea otter in the Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing, floating on his back, reminding us of nature watch to protect them. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Protecting this Treasure

With all the sea otters’ positive features, it is important to protect the otter community. They survived being hunted for fur. They now have to survive oil spills and being a target of Great White Sharks’ “test bites” (by the time the shark discovers the otter is just a bag of fur, it’s usually too late for the otter).

A kayak at a distance from a group of California sea otters, a reminder of the nature watch to protect them. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Kayakers should keep their distance from otters (five kayak lengths),
to give them space to eat and rest in peace.
© Meredith Mullins

They also have to survive all those folks who are curious about their special life—the parade of kayakers, paddleboarders, and boaters.

Several groups come to the rescue. The Southern Sea Otter is protected by the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

A sign with guidelines about sea otter life, a nature watch responsibility. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Organizations like Sea Otter Savvy and the Monterey Bay Aquarium also provide education to the public to ensure that the otters can eat and rest in peace.

Kayak with two people in the Pacific Ocean after being educated about the California sea otter for nature watch to protect the otters. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Every time a kayaker or boat gets too close to an otter, the otter is disturbed and has to use precious energy to move away.

To remind kayakers and boaters of proper otter etiquette, Sea Otter Savvy works with kayak companies to place decals in every rented kayak or paddleboard. These decals remind visitors to give the otters space and to pass them in parallel. Don’t approach them head on or encircle them.

Two kayaks with decals about otter etiquette, a reminder for nature watch to protect them. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

To add to visitors’ education, Sea Otter Savvy also hosted a nationwide limerick contest and has now posted signs near otter habitats with the winners’ poetry.

Don’t paddle too close while we’re searchin’
For a crab or a tasty sea urchin.
Don’t land on our beach,
and stay well out of reach,
Or you’ll frighten us into submergin’.

—Laura Crowley

A warning sign with a limerick about California sea otter behavior in the Moss Landing harbor, a reminder about nature watch to protect the otters. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

When you’re out enjoying the water
Beware the inquisitive otter.
They might take a bite
Though not out of spite
Some just get more close than they ought’er

—Josh Silberg

A Speeding Kills Otters sign in Moss Landing, California, a reminder of nature watch to protect California sea otters. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Our Responsibilities

Sea Otter Savvy founder and passionate marine biologist Gena Bentall reminds us of our nature watch responsibility. Protection is up to humans—to make sure people around the sea otters are educated and respectful.

It’s too easy to be too curious about these remarkable creatures and get too close to them.

If a sea otter is looking at you, you’re too close, as cute as that interaction may be. Most importantly, remember that you are a guest in an amazing world.

Children watching California sea otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, reminding us to go on nature watch to protect the otters. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

For more information about California sea otter protection, visit Sea Otter Savvy and The Monterey Bay Aquarium. Otter feedings are at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm every day at the aquarium. Sea Otter Savvy is funded in large part by the California State Coastal Conservancy, funds which state taxpayers contribute through the California Sea Otter Fund.

If you can’t travel to the California Central Coast, check out the Elkhorn Slough otter cam.

Sea Otter Awareness Week is September 23–29. Spread the word.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Meredith Mullins 4 Comments

Nature Discovery/USA

World Views:

Topics

Category Archives: Nature Discovery