A lone discarded oildrum on the Wicklow Way, above Powerscourt Waterfall

A lone discarded oildrum on the wicklow Way, above Powerscourt W, originally uploaded by blather.

A lone castrol oil drum, discarded by loggers the Wicklow Way, a 132 km hiking trail through the Wicklow mountains. Many sections go through managed plantation forests - this path used to lead through an attractive woodland area, which has now been clearcut by Coillte, the Irish national forestry company.

Many of these forests were planted in otherwise treeless upland areas - and in some cases up to 40 times the recommended amount of fertiliser was used to make the trees grow. This is causing some problems now in areas where forests have been clearcut, with nitrates leaching into the watertable.