THE WEATHER here in west Cork is much warmer than the weather we left behind in Barcelona. It was evident from the time we stepped off the plane, in Dublin, and headed for Heuston Station, to entrain for the south.

Last week, a reader wrote, “Sir, I live in West Cork since four months. I come from Brittany.

OMG, it’s followed us!” I said to my wife as, walking down the graceful Carrer d’Aragó in Barcelona, I suddenly saw a grey heron winging its capacious way over the housetops. 

Damien Enright recalls the day four years ago that he saw a hungry heron swallow a rat whole

I was outraged as I read an article entitled “Sprat —worthless dead but priceless alive” by Cork Whale Watch skipper Colin Barnes in The West Cork People, my excellent local community newspaper.

In the darkening evening, I passed a skeletal wood in which the only tree that still wore its crown was a solitary Scots Pine; how it found its way there, amidst beeches and sycamores, I couldn’t guess.

Last week, my regular column, now in its 25th year, returned to the Outdoor page after appearing in the County supplement since August 2012.

The roads that snakes down to the sea from the escarpment 3,000ft above the Valle Gran Rey in La Gomera, Canary Islands, is already dramatic, with curves, hairpin bends and breathtaking drops all the way.

THERE was a time in Ireland when country people felt their drinking water was safe when it came from spring wells. But that was long ago.

GALLARUS AND KILMALKEDAR, DINGLE