Church Island on Lough Beg
Church Island is a tiny island sitting along the edge of Lough Beg. The island is h0ome to the ruins of a medieval church with a tall slim spire that rises above the surrounding wetland. The spire was added in the late 1700s for Bishop Hervey so he could see it from his house across the water, and locals still call it Hervey's Folly. The spire standing alone over a wide flat landscape with a very low horizon makes this an amazing area to experiment with landscape photography. Ideally aim to shoot at golden hour, morning or evening, when low light stretches out across the grassland and the spire stands out against the colour, then silhouettes nicely as the sun drops at sunset. The ground here floods through autumn and winter allowing you to play with reflections of the spire. Still mornings often bring mist off the lough for a softer, layered look. The tourism boards currently lists it as no public access and point visitors to the free car park and viewpoint at Longpoint Wood. From there a long lens is your friend, compressing the spire against sky or a flooded foreground from a distance. A drone gives you the clean isolated island composition, but be aware this is a protected national nature reserve and Ramsar site full of breeding and migratory waterbirds, so check current reserve rules and UK drone regulations first and avoid bird nesting season. (Bellaghy, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
