Bart Busschots
LightNews LightNews
banner
bartb.ie
Bart Busschots
@bartb.ie
130 followers 46 following 800 posts
Cybersecurity Specialist, podcaster, photographer, nature lover, keen cyclist, and open source developer.
Posts Replies Media Videos
bartb.ie
The leading driving wheel on #RPSI steam loco No. 171 Slieve Gullion showing her name plate, Dundalk shed plate, and Great Northern Railway of Ireland crest, all on her rich blue livery! #SteamTrain
A close view of a steel wheel on a steam train. Only the bottom half of the wheel is exposed, and its rim and spokes are pained bright blue. The top of the wheel is covered by a semi-circular fender outlines in black and yellow with a curved brass name-plate along the top edge naming the engine “Slieve Gullion”. The bottom of the locomotive’s body aligns with the bottom of the fender and is painted red. There is a smaller etched brass plate on the red edge where the axel is marking the locomotive’s home shed as Dundalk.
November 29, 2025 at 2:02 PM
bartb.ie
The #RPSI 2025 santa specials are off to a flying start with 171 Slieve Gullion in fine steam as she reconnects to her train in #Maynooth on the first of 12 steam runs over the next three weekends.
A royal blue steam engine with tender gently steaming towards the back of a vintage blue and cream carriage in a modern railway station as families in festive outfits watch from the platforms.
November 29, 2025 at 11:33 AM
bartb.ie
Privet hedges seem to divide option quite starkly, maybe because some people think their pretty white flowers stink, but their striking black berries definitely add some extra interest in the #autumn. #fall
A square macro of a tight cluster of glossy black marble-sized berries.
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
bartb.ie
Dipping through the clouds — the 'big dipper' asterism that forms the majority of Ursa Major appearing through the thinning clouds over rural Co. Kildare last night. #astrophotography
A wide night shot showing a pan-like shaped group of brighter stars over the silhouette of a bare tree line through thin wispy clouds.
November 25, 2025 at 1:35 PM
bartb.ie
I knew apples were a very varied genus, but I had no idea they included ornamental berry-like fruits like these Toringo crabapples in a neighbour's front garden!
A close view of a cluster of more than ten bright orange marble-sized fruits hanging down from a bare branch with a red bricked house and a blue sky in soft focus behind.
November 20, 2025 at 1:26 PM
bartb.ie
Optics in action courtesy of a low winter sun and a glass staircase in Eolas Building in @maynoothuniversity.ie ☀️🌈
A semi-abstract very contrasty top-down view of light grey tiled floor with diagonal shadows and a cross of rainbow spectra with a thin vertical line and a thick horizontal one.
November 19, 2025 at 11:22 AM
bartb.ie
This far into an Irish November there's not mush left in flower in our street, but these Fragrant Viburnums are a pleasant exception 🙂 #Bloomscrolling
A close macro view of a cluster of small pastel-pink trumpet-shaped flowers on a bare branch. The background is a sun-lit red bricked wall in soft focus.
November 17, 2025 at 3:01 PM
bartb.ie
These beautiful bushes are bursting into bloom all over our housing development. According to iNatualist they're Viburnum Tinus. #Bloomscrolling
A close view of a cluster of small white flowers growing on a bush with tight-packed dark green leaves.
November 13, 2025 at 6:17 PM
bartb.ie
A Rustgill #mushroom hiding between the #autumn leaves in a neighbour's garden. #Fall
A low close macro view of a single mushroom with a light-orange cap growing through wood bark chips surrounded by fallen brown, orange, and yellow leaves.
November 13, 2025 at 1:42 PM
bartb.ie
Spotted these Common Bonnet mushrooms growing in one of the gardens on our street. #Autumn #Fall
A low macra view of slimly grey mushrooms growing through tree bark chips with a few autumn leaves scattered around
November 12, 2025 at 6:48 PM
bartb.ie
The Moon over the big beech trees at the old Larabryan cemetery in #Maynooth in their #autumn colour. #Fall
A telephoto view of a 3/4 full Moon in a mostly rich blue sky with just a few fluffy white clouds around it over the top of a tree with orange leaves
November 12, 2025 at 1:54 PM
bartb.ie
A perfect portrait of a grey heron along the #RoyalCanal near #Maynooth.

This shot really shows how much of an improvement the iPhone 17 Pro 4x telephoto lens is — the 5x telephoto from the iPhones 15 & 16 Pro never delivered this kind of quality!
A portrait of a tall long-necked grey bird standing on reeds next to a perfectly still body of water reflecting the sky above and some nearby trees. The bird is in sharp focus while the background is in softer focus.
November 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
bartb.ie
There's very little left in flower in the typical #Maynooth front garden now that we're well into November, so this wonderful Garden Cosmos flower really caught my eye! #Bloomscrolling
A close view of a large mostly pink flower with parallel thin white streaks running from the center to the ends of the petals. The center of the flower is yellow with a dark pink ring around it. The background is the plant’s thin branching grass-like leaves in soft focus.
November 10, 2025 at 8:55 AM
bartb.ie
I love the way the green seems to be draining away form these didcot leaves along the veins. As I understand it that might actually be what's going on — unlike reds and oranges which develop fresh within the leaves in #autumn, the yellow is always there but masked by the green. #Fall
A close portrait-oriented view of a branch with five large wet spade-shaped leaves (like the suit in a western 52 card deck). The leaves are each a mix of green and yellow in colour, with the yellow focused along the veins.
November 9, 2025 at 1:11 PM
bartb.ie
Quintessential Beech — this perfect branch in Carton House near #Maynooth perfectly demonstrates the #autumn colours Beech trees bring to the Irish landscape. Golden yellows and orangey browns more generously called "copper" by some. #Fall
A close portrait-oriented shot of a single twig pointing down the composition with 5 closely spaced leaves, alternating left and right from the twig, with their size growing from the tip at the bottom of the frame to the top of the frame. The smallest leaf if almost all yellow, and the top leaves completely brown with an earthy orange tone, and the one between various shades between.
November 9, 2025 at 10:12 AM
bartb.ie
The wind arranged these fallen maple leaves into a photogenic little cluster on the clover-filled grass next to a suburban footpath in #Maynooth on a rainy Irish #autumn day. #Fall
A top-down view of three faded yellow five-fingered leaves of different sizes arranged in a tight little circle dominate the center of the image, and they are surrounded by a sea of small three-lobed dark green clover leaves with grass poking between them, and all covered in small water droplets.
November 8, 2025 at 1:33 PM
bartb.ie
Just shopped at Ireland’s first carbon neutral Lidl in #Maynooth — fantastically pleasant and airy inside, and you can park under the shelter of the solar panels! Great to see win-wins like this. The shopping experience is excellent and it’s better for our shared planet!
November 8, 2025 at 10:31 AM
bartb.ie
I love this unusual tiling pattern which is used on just one section of pavement beside the new student appartments in @maynoothuniversity.ie
A top-down view of a paved walkway where the individual paving stones are shaped like blocky triangles made of three hexagons. The stones are dark grey and the joins are black.
November 8, 2025 at 9:56 AM
bartb.ie
#Autumn at the lake in Carton House near #Maynooth.
A wide landscape shot looking out over a small lake in an 18th century designed idealised rural landscape with grass on both banks, trees in the distance, and a stone boathouse on the left shore with large old copper-coloured trees behind it. An almost perfectly clear blue sky with just a few fluffy clouds dominates the top of the scene and is reflected in the near-still surface of the lake.
November 7, 2025 at 12:59 PM
bartb.ie
Only two young people braved some late #autumn sun to sit out under this big old oak tree in Carton House near #Maynooth. #Fall
A portrait-oriented view of a large oak tree on a big grass lawn with three picnic-style bench-table combos underneath. The tree’s leaves are orangey brown and the sky above is blue.
November 7, 2025 at 8:41 AM
bartb.ie
I doubt these berries would do you much good if you ate them, and according to iNaturalist they're somewhat off-puttingly named Stinking Iris, but they are pretty 🙂
A square macro view of a light brown pea-like seed pod with three rather than two lobes that has split open to reveal a dozen or so orangey-red pea-sized berries. The background is a tangle of long and wide very dark green blade-shaped leaves.
November 5, 2025 at 8:49 AM
bartb.ie
Racing the Moon — a long expose shot of an #IrishRail train reflected in the #RoyalCanal near #Maynooth.
A wide night shot looking down the towpath of a rural canal with a vanishing point in the center left of the frame. The sky is partially clouded and a bright moon is lighting up the clouds. Silhouettes of trees lining both sides of the canal can be seen against the sky. The ground is in near total darkness with the only light coming from a very long train running along the far bank of the canal. The train is smeared into a light trail which is reflected in the canal.
November 4, 2025 at 1:17 PM
bartb.ie
Now that the clocks have changed and autumn is in full swing the stars are starting to keep me company again in my evening walks — my first night-mode shot with my iPhone 17 Pro Max is kinda impressive — this is a hand-held shot of the stars of the Summer Triangle between the clouds!
A rich deep navy blue night sky speckled with stars framed by some wispy thin clouds on three sides and the silhouette of a bare tree on the other (the right edge).
November 3, 2025 at 5:12 PM
bartb.ie
The straggling Admiral — much to my surprise, since we’re now into November, I spotted a large Red Admiral #butterfly basking in the sun on the wall along the Royal Canal towpath at the back of St. Patrick’s College #Maynooth.
A close square macro view of a mostly black butterfly resting on an ivy-covered wall. The butterfly’s wings are out flat aligned along the left bottom to right top diagonal, while it looks towards the top-left corner. About half way out along each wing there is a vibrant red band that gives the species its name, there are white spots near the tip of each wing.
November 3, 2025 at 2:09 PM
bartb.ie
Glorious golden maple — the king of #autumn! #Fall
A telephoto shot looking up into the caboose of a tree dominated by a glowing yellow back-lit five-fingered leaf. More leaves and a blue sky are visible in soft focus behind.
November 2, 2025 at 6:33 PM