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

ONE unseasonably grey afternoon during this year’s unusually bright summer, the kilometre-long beach near our West Cork home was deserted but for a single figure in the distance, walking along the top level of the tideline.

COURTMACSHERRY/ BROADSTRAND WALK

On 12th of this month we saw cattle standing knee-high in the river cooling off.

THERE’S so much we don’t know about birds. For example, the diets of blackbirds and song thrushes are radically different, although they belong to the same family. 

A hound was happy to fall into step with me on a recent walk — and to share some of the blackberries I paused to pick along the way.