Horses in their winter jackets look somewhat doleful as they stand casting long shadows in the sloping fields above the sea.

WAS it that they were blinded by the sunlight and didn’t see me, the two young foxes sitting on a ridge 200 metres away, their thick fur russet against the grass and their white chests very pale?

Certain characteristics distinguish the small island of La Gomera which I recently visited from the larger resort islands of the Canaries.

These cold, bright days, full of sun and fresh air, lift the spirits immeasurably.

THE Canary Islands are universally associated with sun, sea and sand but they have many other attractions and the sheer diversity of the islands is striking.

Seen from above, or from the middle distance, there is something apocalyptic about a scattering of palm trees 50 feet tall standing stark in a vast swathe of blackened landscape.

We arrived at night and woke next morning to hear the familiar music of the fish van passing up the valley, soulful Latin American music issuing from speakers on the roof.

LAST week, an old pal reported seeing a pair of buzzards soaring over the woodland near Garretstown, east of Kinsale and, a few days later, I saw a single adult sailing high over the Bandon River.

In Amsterdam, I was gratified to see the streets and tram-tracks thronged with cyclists, young, middle-aged and very old, along with motor-scooter riders, male and female, all wearing no helmets.

Rabbits in the big field behind my house can again be seen since the wheat crop was harvested.