If you go down to the woods today . . .The children of the countryside are even more of a mystery to me than a rural recluse should have to expectSat Oct 27 2001 - 01:00
When otter droppings make enjoyable readingWhere the hill stream runs out into the strand, one tuft of grass on the bank grows a lush and distinctive green, as if regularly…Sat Oct 20 2001 - 01:00
Tracing our wild and wonderful floraThe first real gale of autumn pushed peaty waves right to the end of Killary Harbour, the long mountain fiord that separates …Sat Oct 13 2001 - 01:00
Spare a thought for the unloved ugly bugThe dragonfly - a common darter - came upon me sitting beside the garden pond, hands cupped over the top of a crowbar, and perched…Sat Oct 06 2001 - 01:00
Violent aggression and combat in all speciesFine weather makes a cruel backdrop to warSat Sept 29 2001 - 01:00
A Mediterranean Eden heading for IrelandIn Provence in September, the mistral arrives as a sudden wind from the north, hissing through the olive groves and vineyards…Sat Sept 22 2001 - 01:00
Why doesn't anyone walk anywhere any more?In the slipstream of the brisk young women who zoom off over the hill to distant jobs each morning, the silky tufts of roadside…Sat Sept 15 2001 - 01:00
Taking Ireland's ecological temperatureOne hundred speakers, five packed days of plenary sessions, keynote papers, studies of the methane emissions from Ireland's cattle…Sat Sept 08 2001 - 01:00
Slicing down our verdant hedgerow heritageIn late August, the hedgerows wear their summer growth like a rumpled green fleece, all tangled strands and airy spaces, even…Sat Sept 01 2001 - 01:00
Celebrating the emperor's new home'Yesterday I went down to my bog at about midday. Blazing sun, temperature 21 degrees and the wind was blowing a bitSat Aug 25 2001 - 01:00
From single-issue dissent to a sustainable revolutionIt is 40 years since I marched behind Bertrand Russell on the road from Aldermaston (a long way behind, in a boisterous Scottish…Sat Aug 18 2001 - 01:00
Speaking the language of the bottlenosesLong ago, as this newspaper's economic development correspondent, I wrote a big feature on the Shannon Estuary, outlining its…Sat Aug 11 2001 - 01:00
Tracking the mysterious monarchEach autumn, strong transatlantic winds carry vagrant birds to our southern shores: waders and warblers blown from their seasonal…Sat Aug 11 2001 - 01:00
Protecting the flowery uplands of the BurrenEurope's farm policy has moved a long way towards a view of the countryside that keeps agriculture in balance with natural diversity…Sat Aug 04 2001 - 01:00
The pleasure sandhoppers get from the weedThe brown-fronded kelps of deep water make their spring growth cautiously, at the top of the stem, pushing up last year's fronds…Sat Jul 28 2001 - 01:00
What is that little doggy thinking?Everybody's dog "knows exactly what you're saying" - even, it can sometimes seem, exactly what you're thinkingSat Jul 21 2001 - 01:00
When the sun goes rolling down Croagh PatrickDue to the mountain's perfectly triangular profile and its prominence and domination of the skyline in the region, Croagh Patrick…Sat Jul 14 2001 - 01:00
Eye On NatureIarnr≤d ╔ireann has recently stripped all the woodland from either side of the railway line skirting the town, leaving the rails…Sat Jul 07 2001 - 01:00
Beachcomber charmThe natural bric-α-brac that crowds our window-sills leaves little room for fussy housekeepingSat Jul 07 2001 - 01:00
The fashionable hobby of saving nature'My Patellas are nearly extirpated," wrote a Bangor naturalist, James Clealand, to a scientist friend in 1823Sat Jun 23 2001 - 01:00
Inspiring underground secrets of kamenitza and grikesIn medieval times, pilgrims to St Patrick's Purgatory on Lough Derg, Co Donegal, spent a day and a night alone in a penitential…Sat Jun 16 2001 - 01:00
Aggro over agricultureThe mortal decline of farming in Britain has been rehearsed a few times since the end of peasant subsistence when agricultural…Sat Jun 16 2001 - 01:00
The weeping beech that walks through gardensA tree can take a few years to show you the shape it means to beSat Jun 09 2001 - 01:00
Eye On NatureThe books often say that only hummingbirds can fly backwards (as opposed to hovering), but I saw a blue tit doing just thisSat Jun 09 2001 - 01:00
Multiplication is the name of the fatal gameNever was summer more sudden than this year: the air busy with insects overnight, the beech tree bursting from bud to full leaf…Sat Jun 02 2001 - 01:00
Eye On NatureI have seen something unbelievable - a wren being chased by a butterfly.Sat Jun 02 2001 - 01:00
Medieval ways of celebrating the summerThe first orange-tip butterfly of summer came tapping at the flower buds of a clump of ox-eye daisies as if incredulous at finding…Sat May 26 2001 - 01:00
Encouraging the survival of the forestSeen against a morning sun in May, the new foliage of oaks glows with luminous ambers and brassy lemon-greens of a vibrancy quite…Sat May 19 2001 - 01:00
Eye On NatureSome 60 years ago I planted a bluebell bulb on the grave of my much-loved dogSat May 12 2001 - 01:00
Learning the ancient languages of birds and batsThe leading shoots of the spruce trees on the acre stick up like slender masts above the billowing sails so recently hoisted …Sat May 12 2001 - 01:00
Fighting for deer life in Killarney National ParkLife has been tough these past few weeks for the wild red deer of KillarneySat May 05 2001 - 01:00
Grass roots movement protecting the coastlineOf all Earth's surfaces, a glistening estuary mud-flat bared at low tide can seem the least inviting to the human foot: how deep…Sat Apr 21 2001 - 01:00
Harbingers of spring are aflutterThis is a marine, annelid worm called a sea mouse (Aphrodite aculeata)Sat Apr 14 2001 - 01:00
The ferocious killer dressed up as a petLet out to the lawn for her late-night pee, the dog is likely to rocket off into the dark like an Exocet, outpacing even her …Sat Apr 07 2001 - 01:00
If you discover a treasure, don't dig it upThe polyanthuses I planted under our teenage oaks a decade or so ago have multiplied into a ragged, brilliant drift of flowers…Sat Mar 31 2001 - 01:00
Nurturing nature in the gardens of new suburbiaThe pace of change on the fashionable coastline round the corner in Clew Bay turns my infrequent trips to town into Rip-van-Winkle…Sat Mar 24 2001 - 00:00
Eye on NatureOn March 1st I saw something I'd never observed before - the field of several acres below our house was literally hopping with…Sat Mar 24 2001 - 00:00
The sad decline of the street-wise sparrowYou'd swear the sparrows hadn't eaten for a month, the way they go at the nuts: the thrust of the neck, the roadhammer bill, …Mon Mar 19 2001 - 00:00
Eye on natureOn Bandon golf course lately I noticed a tiny bird picking insects at the foot of a treeMon Mar 19 2001 - 00:00
The sad decline of the street-wise sparrowYou'd swear the sparrows hadn't eaten for a month, the way they go at the nuts: the thrust of the neck, the roadhammer bill, …Sat Mar 17 2001 - 00:00
Eye on natureOn Bandon golf course lately I noticed a tiny bird picking insects at the foot of a treeSat Mar 17 2001 - 00:00
Eye On NatureAn oak tree at Glencairn Abbey, Co Waterford still retains about a quarter of last year's foliage, still green, albeit dry and…Sat Mar 10 2001 - 00:00
Mating frogs don't need to break the iceA frozen pond full of frogspawn has the look of an old-fashioned bathroom window, with its bubbly diffractions of shapeSat Mar 10 2001 - 00:00
Limestone pavement sites under threatFor a geologist, waterworn limestone pavement is the surface skin of karst, the fissured landscape of places such as the Burren…Sat Mar 03 2001 - 00:00
Reclaiming ancient forests for our futureThe mountain lies with its paws in the sea: rough slopes and rocky creggans tilting down to the shoreSat Feb 24 2001 - 00:00
West-coast gas causes underwater bluesThey must have got their tongues around it by now, in the boardroom of Enterprise Energy Ireland "Sru... Sruwaddacon Bay!"Sat Feb 17 2001 - 00:00
Eye on NatureOut birdwatching at the end of January, we spotted a grey-white, gelatinous substance, amorphous in shape at the edge of a lake…Sat Feb 17 2001 - 00:00
Let's charm the birdsWhen the nut-feeder on the thorn-bush gets too crowded with sparrows and goldfinches, a box of seeds-in-goose-fat on the window…Sat Feb 10 2001 - 00:00
Secrets of the dark bogSometimes, you have to be content with coming in on one of nature's little dramas half-way throughSat Feb 03 2001 - 00:00
Seeing red on green issuesOut here at the edge of things, enjoyment of nature could be wonderfully uncomplicated and this column remain as soothing as …Sat Jan 27 2001 - 00:00
