Pros: As with its 82mm sibling we reviewed here, this is a smart, modern-looking scope. Very solid and extremely compact. Image is very bright and sharp from 15x to around 30x. Wide central sweet spot, with some softening towards the field edges. Dual focus controls make fine-focus quick and easy. Cons: This scope uses the same eyepiece as….

Arguably the world’s most prestigious wildlife photography competition — the Wildlife Photographer of the Year is now open for entries for its 52nd year. Owned and organised by the British Natural History Museum, the competition is open to amateur and professional photographers around the world, and the entries it attracts each year represent a global showcase….

What do you buy the wildlife enthusiast or nature lover for Christmas? It’s a conundrum faced by partners, families and friends every year. You’d think it would be easy… anything to do with wildlife would be perfect, right? But from long years of experience I know that we wildlife enthusiasts can be….

I’m sitting writing this in my in-law’s house in Cork City, up with the family from rural West Cork to do a spot of Christmas shopping and soak up the festive atmosphere. But as always, I’ll be keeping an eye and ear tuned for wildlife while in town. Cities offer a….

As another wildlife documentary draws to a close, I can’t help looking out of the window at our back garden: the patio, the lawn, the garden wall strewn with ivy, the flowers nodding their heads gently in the evening breeze. It all seems so quiet and mundane compared to the….

A new island-wide plan to halt the decline in Ireland’s bees and other pollinators was officially launched yesterday by the National Biodiversity Data Centre. Backed by by 68 governmental and non-governmental organisations across the Island of Ireland, the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015-2020 identifies actions we can take on our farmland, public….

Pros: Crisp, detailed views at a price that’s hard to believe. Packed with premium features you normally only see on much more expensive binoculars. Lightweight and robust thanks to its magnesium alloy chassis. Cons: Not many… a little softening evident around the field edge, but not noticeable in normal use. Focus wheel has a bit more resistance….

Wildlife is always unpredictable. That’s a big part of the wildlife-watching appeal: you never quite know what any given outing will bring, even when you visit a familiar patch. I always tell guests on our Discover Wildlife Walks to expect the unexpected. Whether it’s encountering a rare migrant, watching a cormorant catch and swallow an unfeasibly….

  Ireland’s Wildlife Contributor Albert Nolan gets up close and personal with the bees of Limerick and discovers that the City really is buzzing!    I pass quietly through the city streets pausing at every corner to scan the buildings for birds, or peeking into an overgrown garden in the….

Anyone with an ounce of sense will instantly see the headline above for what it is: sensationalist, ill-informed clap-trap. Nonetheless headlines just like it have been rife across Irish media following calls for a cull of the birds by Senator Denis O’Donovan in the Seanad earlier this week. Here are just some of the questionable headlines, introducing equally incredulous editorial from ostensibly “respectable” Irish….

Inchydoney beach, near Clonakilty in West Cork, is one of the undisputed jewels along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. This outstanding blue flag beach draws visitors from far and wide, but earlier this week it was a visitor of a different kind that was getting all the attention. The sandy bottom in….

As a heritage specialist with the wonderful Heritage in Schools scheme I get to visit some fabulous schools in some amazing places. One of the most interesting recent visits was to the school on Bere Island off Castletownbere in West Cork. As always it was a privilege to talk to the children….