Another Life: Airy as spindrift, sharp as knives – and at risk from warmer seasFive species of tern make Ireland their summer breeding home and nursery. But only intensive management and protection can stave off their inevitable declineSat Jun 08 2013 - 01:00
Another Life: Digging deep to unearth a well of memoriesThe arrival of a drilling rig means a new, less appealing way of getting water on the acreSat Jun 01 2013 - 01:00
Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding, by George MonbiotIt’s time to get rid of the sheep and re-create the wilderness, argues a leading environmental activistSat Jun 01 2013 - 01:00
Climate change or just a late spring: what to make of the messages plants send us?Another LifeSat May 04 2013 - 06:00
From the beetles to the starsLearning from life’s transient, mysterious eco-systemSat Apr 06 2013 - 07:00
What the fate of the scoter duck tells us about our changing environmentAnother LifeFri Mar 22 2013 - 18:50
What Darwin could have learned in the tunnelThe tunnel could look a bit ugly anywhere else: you might not want it in the neighbour’s garden, or even your ownSat Mar 02 2013 - 00:00
Follies and frauds that set science at naughtANOTHER LIFE: Winter hides the rising sun behind the mountain, so that, in a fine piece of theatre, its first blaze is held …Sat Feb 23 2013 - 00:00
Counting frogs and tadpoles' teethANOTHER LIFE : It was my 80th year to heaven and I walked abroad in a promised sunny spell, the surf on the shore calmed down…Sat Feb 16 2013 - 00:00
We're a wet country, so why aren't we more interested in our wetlands?ANOTHER LIFE: There has to be the occasional day at this time of year when Ireland, seen from space at the right angle to the…Sat Feb 09 2013 - 00:00
Flight of the winter bumblebeesANOTHER LIFE: The National Gallery diary for 1988, a cheering, floral affair with hollyhocks on the cover, has been my Diary…Sat Feb 02 2013 - 00:00
Where otters dare, all is right with the natural worldANOTHER LIFE: It’s an age since I saw an otterSat Jan 26 2013 - 00:00
Should Ireland be returned to the wild?ANOTHER LIFE: At what better time in the past, I have wondered, would my Mayo hillside have been more “natural”? And, then, …Sat Jan 19 2013 - 00:00
Wild, windy and Ireland's best refuge for hobbitsThe landscape of Fermanagh, it occurred to me, would be Ireland’s best refuge for hobbits, if we had themSat Jan 12 2013 - 00:00
Remembering the best introduction to the wild westANOTHER LIFE: Six new marine sanctuaries have been announced, and one is close to my heart, and my homeSat Jan 05 2013 - 00:00
Test your nature knowledge with these 40 questionsIf you’ve been reading this column for the past year you’ll have a good chance of doing wellSat Dec 29 2012 - 00:00
Geese, turkeys and hens are not just for ChristmasANOTHER LIFE: Keeping poultry is lovely in theory, but in practice it is a full commitment with a deathly ringSat Dec 22 2012 - 00:00
A Christmas treat for birdersNATURE: Any Irish birdwatcher would be thrilled to find this spicy, vigorous guide under the treeSat Dec 15 2012 - 00:00
Who would you like to leave in charge of our forests?ANOTHER LIFE: Simon Coveney faces mounting resistance to plans for the 4,500sq km of public woodlandSat Dec 15 2012 - 00:00
The caged birds that inspired my 'Irish Times' debutANOTHER LIFE: The sight of goldfinches for sale in a Dublin market began more than 50 years of writingSat Dec 08 2012 - 00:00
Sound advice on how to enjoy a walk on the wild sideSometimes at weekends, when RTÉ fills the early morning with pop music that does not engage me (pretty well all of it since the…Sat Dec 01 2012 - 00:00
Has the dwindling barn owl had a shrew too many?ANOTHER LIFE: The balance of an ecosystem is fragile and easily thrown, especially by alien invadersSat Nov 24 2012 - 00:00
Stoat's dainty steps a vital part of the great dance of lifeANOTHER LIFE: Such animals offer an insight into the link between biodiversity and our own healthSat Nov 17 2012 - 00:00
A drifting plague that threatens the ancient ashAnother Life: The demise of the tree would be a terrible blow to what is left of our native landscapeSat Nov 10 2012 - 00:00
Back from the dead: how the red grouse has been revivedANOTHER LIFE: THE SUN TAKES its time to rise behind the mountain, so I begin my morning walk down the boreen in dawn’s deep …Sat Nov 03 2012 - 00:00
Why do hen harriers find Ireland so hard to live in?ANOTHER LIFE: ‘AT HIGH INTENSITY, male appears to follow path of invisible coil-spring, seen from end of coil, clearly loops…Sat Oct 27 2012 - 01:00
Leaf-kicking, conker-bashing schoolboys bewareANOTHER LIFE: IN THE VASTLY DISPARATE world of nature’s fungi, moist autumn is the time for growth and propagation, not only…Sat Oct 20 2012 - 01:00
Where did Irish animals live during the Ice Age?ANOTHER LIFE: THE INUIT WORD nunataq has always appealed to me – an evocative, spiky soundSat Oct 13 2012 - 01:00
Pine marten kits provide lesson in human interventionANOTHER LIFE: ONE OF THE DUTIES of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, as ordained by the EU’s habitats directive, is to…Sat Oct 06 2012 - 01:00
Impressed in the west by magnificent autumn moonsANOTHER LIFE : A DIFFERENT LIFT TO the wind, a new slant to the sky: as autumn unfolds, the west comes into its ownSat Sept 29 2012 - 01:00
The very hungry caterpillar is quite fussy about its foodANOTHER LIFE: AT REST IT LOOKS, for those who remember such things, rather like a small, dark cheroot, of the kind once – perhaps…Sat Sept 22 2012 - 01:00
It may look like a balloon, but this is no party animalANOTHER LIFE : RACHEL CARSON, the United States’ early begetter of the environmental movement, knew about much more than the…Sat Sept 15 2012 - 01:00
Fired up to grow your own? Then here's a little noveltyANOTHER LIFE: IF EVER A SUMMER did a marketing job for the polytunnel industry, it was this oneSat Sept 08 2012 - 01:00
When the cat's away the birds and gardeners will playANOTHER LIFE A TRIP TO THE LOO at daybreak had me peering out in the hope of spying some wild visitor to what is now, since …Sat Sept 01 2012 - 01:00
Bugged by the hugely under-recorded presence of earwigsANOTHER LIFE: THE SCIENTIFIC urge to know what’s left of the planet’s other species and where they all live has had to reckon…Sat Aug 25 2012 - 01:00
August sees life out of balance after wet summer takes a tollANOTHER LIFE: OUR WOODSHED swallows couldn’t wait to quit this Irish summerSat Aug 18 2012 - 01:00
Appreciating spiders is a tricky business for an arachnophobeANOTHER LIFE: THERE WAS that scene in Great Expectations (we oldies saw the first film, in 1946) where Pip was summoned to Miss…Sat Aug 11 2012 - 01:00
How hot dogs and peanut butter help to monitor mammalsANOTHER LIFE SINCE OUR OLD DOG, Meg, crept off into the bushes to breathe her last in private, the acre has been running a bit…Sat Aug 04 2012 - 01:00
Modern buildings not accommodating to swirling swiftsANOTHER LIFE : MY BACHELOR pad in Dublin, in times long past, was carved out of a roof space in the heart of Ballsbridge, overlooking…Sat Jul 28 2012 - 01:00
Bracken's fern grip on our countryside unshakable for nowANOTHER LIFE: EVEN AS THEY DRIP along the waysides of the west, the springing forms and vivid greens of ferns can offer exceptional…Sat Jul 21 2012 - 01:00
