Columnists - West Cork People

A recipe for sunshine

Karen Austin January, 2025

This is the time of the year to eat oranges. The oranges of southern Europe are having their moment, juicy and bursting with flavour and they bring a very welcome blast of sunshine into what is otherwise a rather grey, cold and wet time of the year. Spanish and Italian […]

Sandhoppers and plastic

Dr Jeremy A. Dorman January, 2025

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, […]

The importance of ventilation

Ruairi Kay January, 2025

Following on from the last two instalments on insulation, this month I’m going to talk about ventilation. Ventilation is an important part of any retrofit but I find it is often overlooked and misunderstood. Hopefully, I can help dispel it here! A key part of any retrofit is reducing drafts, […]

Spotting the elusive Black Redstart

WCP Staff January, 2025

This month branch committee member Karl Woods tells us about the Black Redstart ‘Phoenicurus ochruros’ (Irish name – ‘Earrdheargán dubh’), a lovely but scarce little bird that some people may not realise we get in Ireland. However there seems to be an increasing number of winter sightings and so now […]

Columnists

Weather woes and market highs on the farm in 2024

Tommy Moyles January, 2025

With 2024 in the rearview mirror, Tommy Moyles looks back at how the year was from a farming perspective. When it came to weather, up until August; 2024 was one of the most challenging years I can recall. There have been washout years, droughts and blizzards in the past, but […]

Will 2025 be a year of change or another political groundhog day?

Kieran Doyle January, 2025

Change. What does it really mean? At the beginning of every year people are full of personal resolutions in an attempt to change direction in life. These changes (or at least the promise of them), are usually intended to put people on a journey of self-enhancement or improvement. Let’s have […]

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