Beware of false fossilsIn all the fuss about human cloning, has it occurred to you that identical twins are much more alike genetically than Dolly and…Sat May 20 2000 - 01:00
Layers of history in the landWatching a neighbour climbing the hill-pasture with his dog, I sometimes wonder how it seems to him, this landscape we shareSat May 13 2000 - 01:00
Eye On NatureRecently I've noticed some large birds just offshore east of Portstewart, Co Derry which I've discovered were eidersSat May 13 2000 - 01:00
Eye On NatureI have found quite a number of very pale red-brown worms recently in my vegetable patch; five tonight while hunting slugs by …Sat May 06 2000 - 01:00
Studying spring's surgesLike brush-strokes in a watercolour, light-filled shades of green wash over the acre as trees break into leafSat May 06 2000 - 01:00
Green wisdomThe locality of Annaghdown, on the eastern shore of Lough Corrib, has long had the feeling of a hideawaySat Apr 29 2000 - 01:00
Eye on NatureIs there any evidence in support of the theory that removing old nests encourages birds to use the site again? Keith Lamb, Clara…Sat Apr 22 2000 - 01:00
In praise of worms`Gley" is not a word I can warm to, suggesting as it does something close to cold porridgeSat Apr 22 2000 - 01:00
Eye On NatureAt this time of year, on our evening walks past a stretch of high boggy moorland we frequently hear a strange bird call rising…Sat Apr 15 2000 - 01:00
Delving deep into the hidden treasure of our minesA cycling holiday in Cornwall in my teens found me pedalling past the spoil heaps of the china clay industry: great pyramids …Sat Apr 15 2000 - 01:00
Lazy beds no moreApril's first lambs shine out on the hillside, their whiter-than-whiteness rhymed in the breakers unfurling at the shoreSat Apr 08 2000 - 01:00
Sounds like SpringtimeFor all the spring abundance of birds on the acre, the pouring out of song and hectic mating chases, I seem to be very bad at…Sat Apr 01 2000 - 01:00
A tiny differenceAlong the road to the mountain, bare twigs of blackthorn sparkle with white blossom - "flowers without leaves like easter snow…Sat Mar 25 2000 - 00:00
Songs in the skyA minor eccentricity of my life beside the sea is occasionally to walk the strand with my eyes shut for a couple of hundred meandering…Sat Mar 18 2000 - 00:00
Getting back to natureHow does it feel to hug a tree? I seem to know exactly: arms stretched out around a trunk too impossibly big to encompass; cheek…Sat Mar 11 2000 - 00:00
In search of the typicalIf there is one thing common to most of the new houses that have sprung up between Louisburgh and Mweelrea Mountain (about a …Sat Mar 04 2000 - 00:00
Somewhere snug to sleep`Hibernaculum" is one of zoology's more satisfying wordsSat Feb 26 2000 - 00:00
A private wink from ParadiseFor a remarkable 10 days or so last month, the weather decided to show me up for a woeful Cassandra in the matter of climate …Sat Feb 19 2000 - 00:00
Eye on natureI have recently moved to west Cork, and live about 500 yards from the sea, in a sheltered and wooded valleySat Feb 19 2000 - 00:00
Irish frogs are ancient historySince the final days of January, my after-breakfast appointment with the rain-gauge on the back lawn has provoked a quicksilver…Sat Feb 12 2000 - 00:00
Taking time's sandsOne of this winter's mad floods in the hillside streams left a rich drift of sand across the road for the morning school bus …Sat Feb 05 2000 - 00:00
Eye On NatureI found some cherry stones hidden in the corner of an outhouse where I store apples over the winterSat Jan 29 2000 - 00:00
Scads of pods to seeThere have been some great collapses in the sand cliff at the narrow end of the strand, where storm waves can attack the dunes…Sat Jan 29 2000 - 00:00
Eye On NatureFor several years we had a male blackbird which, whilst not tame in the true sense of the word, was very trustingSat Jan 22 2000 - 00:00
Splendour of our sea is under threatThe strangest place to be, on our wild stretch of shore, is at a jagged cape of rock where the ocean turns into Clew BaySat Jan 15 2000 - 00:00
Eye On NatureI found a robin stunned on the side of the road and took it home hoping to revive it, but it was dead when I got thereSat Jan 15 2000 - 00:00
When a terrible ugliness is bornOn the first fine day of 2000, I have resolved to take some pictures of the place where I liveSat Jan 08 2000 - 00:00
Flashback to the feasts of 999 ADComing up to Christmas in 999, there were plenty of wild turkeys left in the old Irish pinewoodsSat Dec 18 1999 - 00:00
Have we killed off nature?One morning in late autumn 10 years ago I sat down to write a column to express a great sorrowSat Dec 11 1999 - 00:00
A corncrake in the kitchenInishbofin has retreated, for the moment, to a long, grey shadow on the horizon, veiled in a haze that is not quite rainSat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
Natural WorldWE have had many fine naturalists but never, until now, a really comprehensive account of the island's habitats and wildlifeSat Dec 04 1999 - 00:00
The million wings of winterThe balding old spruce at the gate seemed to have sprouted new foliage overnight, thickening its silhouette against the sunrise…Sat Nov 27 1999 - 00:00
Eye On NatureI have access to a six-acre wild field on the coast where there are many young trees, grasses, gorse and ferns with a south-facing…Sat Nov 27 1999 - 00:00
What rams get up toIn November there's a special glint in the eye of a Blackface ram - once you can find a way to meet its gaze through those massive…Sat Nov 20 1999 - 00:00
Waving the worldPressing north through the mountains, the first full-blooded gale of autumn raised whirling waterspouts on Doo Lough and scythed…Sat Nov 13 1999 - 00:00
Eye On NatureRecently I spent a few days in Killadoon, Co Mayo and saw a greater variety and a greater number of birds in half-an-hour's walk…Sat Nov 06 1999 - 00:00
Sad silence as mink moves inOut on the wide green lawn of the duach the other morning, a naturalist friend spotted a small, black animal rippling across …Sat Nov 06 1999 - 00:00
The hedger's artBirders at their french windows on the east coast have heard the night calls of arriving migrant redwings and have been smitten…Sat Oct 30 1999 - 01:00
Wriggling our way into history's hidey-holes`The floodgates of heaven were opened to overflow exceedingly, and all the fountains of the great deep were broken up; all animated…Sat Oct 23 1999 - 01:00
Eye On NatureI regularly swim in a lightweight wet suit across Kilkee Bay from the pier to Edmond's PointSat Oct 23 1999 - 01:00
Pearls beyond priceThe autumn downpours produced some memorable floods in the westSat Oct 16 1999 - 01:00
Keeping farms safe for wildlifeThe fieldscape along the road south from Louisburgh to the foot of Mweelrea has greatly changed in the past decade or so - most…Sat Oct 09 1999 - 01:00
Shattered silenceSilence, autumn's great gift to the west, has been slow to settle inSat Oct 02 1999 - 01:00
Why did the little snail cross the road?September finds nature adrift: wind-sift of thistledown over the dunes, solitary gannets fishing southwards, whimbrels whistling…Sat Sept 25 1999 - 01:00
Licence to be witty with DarwinSteve Jones, Professor of Genetics at University College, London, says he has never met a biology student who has actually read…Sat Sept 18 1999 - 01:00
Hedgehog talesThe hothouse Azorean drizzles that enveloped Connacht earlier this month brought on a late and manic surge of growth on the acre…Sat Sept 18 1999 - 01:00
The prospect of eaglesSomething is missing from even the wildest of Irish mountains - some extra edge of awe and expectation that reaches beyond their…Sat Sept 11 1999 - 01:00
