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.

WE return to Ireland to find the weather as sunny as that which we enjoyed on the Mediterranean during our recent visit.

AS we walked across the north Ibiza landscape, it was 29°C and even the lizards were seeking the shade.

DISPATCHES, via text messages to this relatively remote Mediterranean island which I am re-visiting, assure me that the young heron which we adopted a fortnight ago is alive, robust and growing in all directions.

IT is four weeks since we read that the first swallow had been sighted — nevertheless, it’s always a thrill and a reassurance to see them once again splitting one’s local skies.

I HAVE A friend in Tokyo who says she’s unworried by the regular aftershocks.