Nesting swallows give dazzling aerodynamic displayANOTHER LIFE: THE SWALLOWS took a long time to find us, deciding only a few years ago that our open-sided woodshed was enough…Sat Jul 25 2009 - 01:00
Flowering of orchids is notoriously unpredictableANOTHER LIFE: A SPECTACULAR orchid summer! From unmown football fields in Dublin suburbs, grassy plots in Kerry villages, coastal…Sat Jul 18 2009 - 01:00
Harlequin ladybird will join long list of invasive aliensANOTHER LIFE: THIS COULD BE the summer the dreaded harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, invades Ireland, borne on an easterly…Sat Jul 11 2009 - 01:00
From little seeds, a fascinating secret is unravelledANOTHER LIFE: A DOZEN YEARS ago, in a plant nursery in west Cork, I formed a deep fancy for the golden hop, Humulus lupulus “…Sat Jul 04 2009 - 01:00
Islands' abandonment complete as the economy ebbsANOTHER LIFE: THE SEA PINKS along our garden path are not the right sort at allSat Jun 27 2009 - 01:00
Keeping tabs on the progress of Ireland's wild geeseANOTHER LIFE: AT THE LAST satellite fix, Cormac was still high in the sky over the middle of Scoresby Sound, and Aodh had flown…Sat Jun 20 2009 - 01:00
The shape-shifting blight that threatens our spudsANOTHER LIFE: A MURKY, MIDGE-BITTEN morning in the last days of May found me out with the sprayer, pumping a mist of fungicide…Sat Jun 13 2009 - 01:00
Painted lady show creates a dazzling butterfly effectANOTHER LIFE: IT WAS, as her e-mail said, “snowing butterflies – hundreds of butterflies swaying and darting in between the …Sat Jun 06 2009 - 01:00
Discover the wonderful world of the wild mushroomANOTHER LIFE: THE BIG OLD willow across the stream is waiting for a decent breezeSat May 30 2009 - 01:00
All change: a glimpse of the future of Irish farmingANOTHER LIFE: THE BOGS crack open... the mountain lakes dry up... the sand dunes are being washed away..Sat May 16 2009 - 01:00
Ban or no ban, it will be a long way back for eel stocksANOTHER LIFE: ‘THE EEL,” asserted Senator David Norris in February, “is an interesting fish, although it is hardly like a fish…Sat May 09 2009 - 01:00
Tracing the Shannon from its source to its futureANOTHER LIFE: ETHNA’S DAD was born on the farm in Co Cavan where the Shannon is supposed to rise.Sat May 02 2009 - 01:00
Digging up the past for advice on growing your ownANOTHER LIFE: AMONG THE FAMILY heirlooms which helped to equip our move to the west coast three decades ago was a somewhat …Sat Apr 25 2009 - 01:00
Watching out for those welcome parasitesEYE ON NATURE: IT’S HALF A CENTURY since the great onset of change from Ireland’s era of mixed farming – that happily tangled…Sat Apr 11 2009 - 01:00
A bird in the hand must be handled ever so gentlyANOTHER LIFE : WHEN TALKING to a robin in the garden in spring — as one does — it might enrich the conversation to know if the…Sat Apr 04 2009 - 01:00
Jumping through hoops to keep watch on dolphinsANOTHER LIFE: IT IS SOMETIMES good to be reminded that nature, like the sea, goes all round the island, and has some determined…Sat Mar 21 2009 - 00:00
Boglands are being denuded for peat exportANOTHER LIFE: THE SPECIAL feeling of Saturday morning has great survival powerSat Mar 14 2009 - 00:00
Messed-up garden is worth it for a glimpse of badgerANOTHER LIFE : THE HARES I’VE been meeting on my morning walk remind me which month we’re inSat Mar 07 2009 - 00:00
Parasite from Siberia is chief threat to our beesANOTHER LIFE: WE’VE A few weeks to wait for spring, at least on our side of the hillSat Feb 28 2009 - 00:00
Why folk who find plants dim are the real vegetablesANOTHER LIFE: ONCE AGAIN I planted the garlic late, kneeling on a frosty morning to push a dozen rows of cloves into the soil…Sat Feb 21 2009 - 00:00
Why folk who find plants dim are the real vegetablesANOTHER LIFE: ONCE AGAIN I planted the garlic late, kneeling on a frosty morning to push a dozen rows of cloves into the soil…Sat Feb 21 2009 - 00:00
Looking for a snuggle of wrens in a swallow's nestEYE ON NATURE: THE SNOW took its time to reach the coast of Co Mayo, cloaking the mountains but leaving the hillsides greenSat Feb 14 2009 - 00:00
The art and artistry of tending the earthANOTHER LIFE: A WAKE IN our neighbour’s house last week was full of fond remembrance and also, as so often in mid-winter, regret…Sat Feb 07 2009 - 00:00
Natterjack toads under threat from rising oceansANOTHER LIFE: THE WORST of the stormy days shrouded the ocean in spray, so that, beyond the heaped-up terraces of surf, explosions…Sat Jan 31 2009 - 00:00
From small sea-lice do great problems growANOTHER LIFE: IN MANY CHILLY, rattling streams of the west, two little black dots have appeared in golden eggs, the size of…Sat Jan 24 2009 - 00:00
How the orchid held the key to our originsANOTHER LIFE: ‘MY THEOLOGY IS a simple muddle,” Charles Darwin wrote to a close friend towards the end of his lifeSat Jan 17 2009 - 00:00
The importance of charting the landscapeANOTHER LIFE: SNOW CARVES NEW shapes against the sky, plucking peaks and ridges, whole successions of hills, out of a dark horizon…Sat Dec 20 2008 - 00:00
The unusual fish swimming in our warmer watersANOTHER LIFE: WATCHING HAIL squalls greying out the islands, and a chill viridian darkening the sea, it is hard to think of …Sat Nov 08 2008 - 00:00
Natives and continentals in clash of the ashEYE ON NATURE: THE FIRST REAL gales of autumn set the acre a-whirl with leaves – and began to paint in the world around us pixel…Sat Nov 01 2008 - 00:00
Whooper arrives to the soft sibilance of surfANOTHER LIFE: THE WHOOPER swans came back early from Iceland this year, hitching a ride on northwesterly winds, so that I missed…Sat Oct 25 2008 - 01:00
Solving the mystery of our 'native' faunaANOTHER LIFE: IN TIMES DOLED OUT digitally, second by second on stock exchange screens, there may be some calming grace in considering…Sat Oct 18 2008 - 01:00
Don't ask an alternative lifer for recession adviceANOTHER LIFE : 'NOW IS the time to skin the lawnSat Oct 11 2008 - 01:00
Why we chose a wind farm over a gold mineANOTHER LIFE: MUCH BETTER LATE than never, the autumn sun spills over the ridge at breakfast time, dissolving the rim of the…Sat Oct 04 2008 - 01:00
The day we failed to push the boat outANOTHER LIFE: ONE FINE SUMMER Sunday afternoon 30 years ago, in perhaps the least-well-considered phase of the Vineys's sorties…Sat Sept 20 2008 - 01:00
An ill wind blows American birds to our shoresANOTHER LIFE: AS HURRICANE GUSTAV approached New Orleans, thousands of birds flew across the city from the ocean, fleeing ahead…Sat Sept 13 2008 - 01:00
Native trees not out of the woods as finances constrictANOTHER LIFE: A BIG SURPRISE in growing trees is that most of them would rather not be huggedSat Sept 06 2008 - 01:00
Zen and the art of corncrake surveillanceANOTHER LIFE: IN THE RATHER less rained-upon west of Connacht, it has been a modestly good summer for corncrakes.Sat Aug 30 2008 - 01:00
Irish hares dazzled in the spotlight of extinctionANOTHER LIFE: 'I AM CONVINCED," wrote Dr James Fairley, emeritus professor of zoology at NUI, in a recent book, "that the number…Sat Aug 23 2008 - 01:00
Sensitive midges fly on two wings and a prayerANOTHER LIFE: IT’S WEEKS SINCE the swallows were here, dashing up and down between house and gate, over and over, figures-of…Sat Aug 16 2008 - 01:00
Behold the beautiful sea slugANOTHER LIFE: Since the advent of digital cameras and e-mail, rather fewer small packages arrive for Eye on Nature, some of …Sat Aug 02 2008 - 01:00
Ivory spires of the butterfly orchidANOTHER LIFE: FROM THE PURPLE patches of heather and wild thyme at its rocky turning, the boreen to the sea is a flower-shop…Sat Jul 26 2008 - 01:00
In the raven's territoryANOTHER LIFE: AS USUAL in July, young starlings have conjured themselves into gangs and swoop about the hillside walls and…Sat Jul 19 2008 - 01:00
No beach pebble unturned in the great seal censusANOTHER LIFE: IT'S BEEN A WHILE since I communed with a grey seal, if that is the right word for lolling on a rock among sea…Sat Jul 12 2008 - 01:00
Eco-echo from the past makes a comebackANOTHER LIFE: The massively-built draught horses of the Ardennes pulled Napoleon's heavy wagons in retreat through deep Russian…Sat Jul 05 2008 - 01:00
How to think globally by acting locallyAnother Life There's fun to be had from some of the more bizarre omens of climate change - red admiral butterflies supping at…Sat Feb 23 2008 - 00:00
Raiders of the lost lichen strike goldAnother Life It was seven feet up in an old, gnarled and very prickly whitethorn in a winter-flooded pasture in south CorkSat Jan 26 2008 - 00:00
Mapping the mysterious submarine terrainAnother Life: No one can live beside the sea and not wonder at times, with a child's curiosity, how the view to the horizon …Sat Jan 19 2008 - 00:00
