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.

West Cork woodland takes on the appearance of a jungle in the Chilean highlands with Orange-bark myrtles growing to 50 or more feet in height, and wild-seeding themselves on the forest floor.

ARDMORE-GOAT ISLAND, WATERFORD.

OUR local bay is less green this summer than any summer since the seasonal sea lettuce began a scourge a decade ago.

I WAS interested to learn of the recent discovery that a parasite,  Toxoplasma gondii, can control the human brain.

"THERE’S a monster in the bath!" cried the damsel in distress, rushing into my workroom in her dressing gown at 8am.