Colin Bailie, renowned Irish photographer, took to the skies this week to capture the record-breaking snow storms cutting swaths across Northern Ireland and wreaking havoc on Mourne Mountains.
“The Mournes have always been a favorite location of mine, whether we walk or fly. I love to photograph the rolling mountains whenever I can. Today was no exception,” he said on Wednesday, April 3rd, just days after the storm ravaged the mountains. “To photograph the Mourne Mountains covered in snow is really the icing on the cake.”
The Mourne Mountains, inspiration for C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, are part of a granite mountain range in Northern Ireland which includes the highest mountains of the region. It has been cited as an area of outstanding natural beauty and proposed as the first national park in Northern Ireland.
This week it was hit with snow storms the likes of which haven’t been witnessed in living memory and have prompted unprecedented response operations to aid the devastated farmers and the thousands of animals stranded on the mountainsides. Local park rangers are urging people to stay off the mountain for fear of fatal snowdrifts and avalanches.
Colin’s unmatched aerial photos of the mountain range offer a rare perspective on this natural wonder and the recent historical events. His work offers us a unique vantage point from which, as he says, we can “appreciate the stunning world in which we live.”