RSPB Northern Ireland’s Belfast Lough nature reserve at Belfast Harbour Estate has undergone extensive refurbishment to give it a renewed WOW factor.  Media and Events Officer Amy Colvin explains what all the fuss is about. Belfast’s Harbour Estate isn’t the sort of place you’d expect nature to flourish – but prepare to….

This weekend, while out in the garden clearing a build-up of dead leaves and layers of last-season’s montbretia foliage, I uncovered a prickly, but very welcome surprise. A hibernating hedgehog! Its spines flexed involuntarily, once… twice… and then it was still again. I whipped out the smartphone and took one quick photograph (above), before replacing the leaf-litter, tucking….

January went by with wild winds, snow and hail. Sinéad takes to the road on a quieter day with a light dusting of snow underfoot to talk about our weather, the rain and water as a once revered resource. Brought to you in association with…

A social media storm is brewing surrounding an ill-informed and disturbingly inaccurate radio interview about birds conducted on the Pat Kenny Show on national Irish radio station Newstalk FM yesterday (Wed 14 January). On the show, host Pat Kenny (pictured left) introduced Biochemistry Professor, Luke O’Niell (yes, you read that right — a professor of….

Regular IW contributor Albert Nolan reflects on how a bit of winter digging benefits the bird life in his garden.   It was a day when you would have fought to have a shovel in your hand as the icy wind slipped easily through layers of clothes. I was finishing off a….

Sinéad rings the changes, on the last day of December 2014 and the eve of New Year. With a look back over the year along the Calendar Road and a chat about the lapwings who have returned to winter here. Brought to you in association with…

It’s November on the Calendar Road and Sinéad takes a walk out at night to talk about the longer nights as winter approaches. Brought to you in association with…

I’d popped back to the room to get something and was taking my time, enjoying the cool of the air con after the sweltering mid-morning heat of Thailand’s West Coast. Suddenly my youngest burst into the room. “Dad, come quick mum’s watching gibbons from the swimming pool.” Now there’s a….

If you’ve seen our recent review of Vanguard’s new flagship Endeavor EDII binocular, you’ll know we were pretty impressed with it. This is an excellent all-round birding and wildlife binocular… and thanks to the folks at Vanguard one lucky Ireland’s Wildlife reader will soon own their very own pair. For your chance to….

The last day of August and Sinéad feels that autumn has come to the Calendar Road.  She talks about The Festival of Lunása and the Sun God Lugh, as the wind blows gently through the trees. Brought to you in association with…

What wildlife gear do you take with you when you’re heading off on a four month trip, and you have to travel light? That was the conundrum I faced a few weeks ago when packing for our extended trip to Australia and Southeast Asia. After much deliberation I finally had my gear….

Thrombolites are amazing structures. Along with their close relatives stromatolites, these ancient bacterial colonies are ancestors of the very first life forms to exist on earth, and the hard calcareous deposits created by these colonies are bizarre. It’s actually quite humbling to stand alongside these living relics. These thrombolites are on the….