This month Andrea Reichstein, a member of the Save Murragh Action Group committed to protecting the Bandon River Valley, discusses the importance of fresh water pearl mussels. They’re not wearing capes, but they might as well be. Freshwater pearl mussels are quiet superheroes of our waterways. They can clean water […]
Pádraig Whooley of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) and the ‘Save our Sprat West Cork’ campaign explains why sprat, along with a handful of other forage fish, are critically important keystone species and the detrimental effect their decline will have on coastal communities in West Cork. Sprat feed […]
When I was young, I often sat alone by the beacon at Wood Point, looked out across Courtmacsherry Bay, and day-dreamed. The sea then seemed infinite and clean, unspoiled by Man. One day, I would sail away, over the horizon; (I never did). But now, if I can even find […]
In his ‘Special Report on Surnames in Ireland’, Robert E. Matheson published a list of the 27 commonest surnames in Co. Cork, based on their incidence in the index of births for 1890. This is a great source of genealogy, as is Diarmuid Ó Murchadha’s authoritative ‘Family Names of County […]
Iran is headline news right now. By the time this article goes to print, the incessant bombing of Tehran and its ten million occupants, by Israel, could be over, or have boiled into a war of greater dimensions. Both the USA and Israel see Iran as an evil country that […]
In March I wrote a column encouraging people to take part in a public consultation process, for a project aimed at reviving a neglected part of Clonakilty. The public consultation was to inform an Integrated Urban Strategy (IUS) for Kent Street (the street the library is on), identifying how public […]