Most people associate hares with March; think of the expression “mad as a March hare” and the hare in ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. So this is a bit early, but because of what I have seen and heard recently, I couldn’t wait another month. The madness, by the way, refers […]
In 2024, I collected 51.74 kilograms of litter from the cove at the end of our lane. That is more than in 2022 and 2023, but a little less than in 2021. Fishing gear such as ropes and hard plastic floats were the heaviest items, but plastic bottle pieces were, […]
As you carve that big roasted turkey on Christmas Day, I wonder how many will ask: why is a bird from America named after a country in Asia Minor? Turkeys belong to the family Phasianidae, along with pheasants, peacocks, chickens, partridges, grouse and quails. This family is part of a […]
On a fine May evening four years ago, I came across a most delightful sight: three little fox cubs in a neighbouring field, happily chasing one another around while their mother watched out for danger. This was such a treat for me, having just returned from two years in a […]
I have been writing these articles for over a year now. My first piece was about rubbish that washed up on the nearest beach. Last year I picked about 40kg of litter out of the seaweed and sand, most of it small pieces of degraded plastic drink bottles. I have collected […]
There are many animals that reach a great age. Tortoises and turtles are especially long-lived. In his lovely 1948 book ‘Over the Reefs’, Cork-born writer and artist Robert Gibbings (whose father was rector of St. Multose Church in Kinsale) told of a radiated tortoise called Tu’i Malila that lived as […]