Why is it that we’re so ready to lay the blame at nature’s door when things go awry in the countryside? There are plenty of examples out there. Bovine TB is perhaps the biggest that springs to mind at the moment. It’s a dreadful disease in cattle that has serious….

All over Ireland gardeners are on a mission to eradicate weeds… but is there a different approach that can help the gardener AND help Ireland’s wildlfie? **** Weeds! The very mention of them can send gardeners into spasm. Throughout summer well into autumn we fight a never-ending battle with weeds…..

The female marsh harrier rose over the reed bed. For a fleeting moment she was master of the air… and then the wind hit her. Any illusion of aerial mastery was shattered as the Atlantic squall buffeted the hapless bird. It was all she could do to stay airborne. This….

I was out for a routine tramp around the patch about a month ago when something dropped out of a big clump of ivy in the top of a hawthorn tree. It hit the ground with a thud and, curiosity piqued, I headed over to investigate. As I approached the….

A few weeks ago the annual television wildlife extravaganza that is BBC Springwatch hit our screens. This three-week long wildlife-fest celebrated the best of native British wildlife, bringing fantastic shots, engaging stories and interesting wildlife facts to a public with a seemingly insatiable appetite for all things wild. I look….

Life these days is a bit of a dizzy whirlwind. With work pressures, children, ever-present household chores and sundry other demands on our finite sliver of attention, it can be hard to find time for nature. But I find taking even a little “time out” to connect with the natural….

It was Monday night. I sat half-watching a painful American TV show (just because it was on) and half-reading the latest updates to the Ireland’s Wildlife page on Facebook, when a movement outside caught my eye. The long stretch in the evening meant that while it wasn’t exactly light it….

It was a glorious morning on Toe Head in West Cork. The sun was shining, and the April breeze, while still a bit keen, wasn’t at all uncomfortable. At my feet was a stunning vista spanning from Galley Head to the east all the way around to the Fastnet Rock….

How often do you think about lichens? Most people rarely give them a second thought, even though they encounter them every day. Lichens are everywhere — encrusting growths on rocks, walls and tree trunks, more leafy or feathery forms clinging to rocky outcrops and dangling from branches —  lichens are….

I still remember the sense of wonder I felt when, as a little boy, I used to turn over boulders in the rockery. My Dad — a keen gardener — was far less keen on my impromptu re-arrangement of his hard-landscaping, but I was more interested in the fascinating world….

“Look up!” is the catch phrase coined by celebrity UK birder David Lindo, the self-styled “Urban Birder”, and it is, by and large, pretty sound advice. If you find yourself wandering the city streets with time to kill, glancing periodically above your head can reveal some truly remarkable things. David….

The phone beeped, a message flashed across the screen and five minutes later me, my binoculars and my field guide were in the car. A local birder had spotted a red-flanked bluetail in a garden near Galley Head… and that was just a twenty minute drive away. From the end….