WILD plants have flowered extravagantly this summer.

I NOTICE the dozen swallows and house martins, that sat on the wires above the village street in April and May, have multiplied.

WE have found remote, west Cork beaches free of the noxious green sea ‘lettuce’ that has plagued so many Irish estuaries and strands.

IT was a singular pleasure to be able to show off Ireland at its best to our visitors from the balmy isles of the Canaries.

THIS is the season of roses.

A READER writes to tells me he recently picked up six dead crows beneath a rookery near his home.

WALKING is the flavour of the season.

LAST week, in Lisbon, I saw and heard farmers demonstrating against the Government in a demand for higher prices for milk and meat, and the survival of smallholders.

AT Monfrague National Park, in Extremadura in western Spain, watching the birdwatchers was as interesting as watching the birds.