Bird Race is a sure way to kickstart the feelgood factor

The chance of seeing a fieldfare is one of the delights available at the Bird Race, writes Damien Enright

This evening, January 11, at fall of light, a neighbour, Kevin Hanly, phoned to tell me that he’d seen and heard almighty skirmishes and squawkings at herons’ nests in treetops 200 metres below our homes.

This explains the regular, recent absences of the heron, sometimes called Ron, that we reared from fledgling-hood and, now, six years later, still frequents our yard for free lunches. Love in the air, and territorial imperatives.