“LAZY autumn days in all their glory...” was a line of a song I heard as a youth.

WHETHER to genetically modify (GM) food sources or not is one of the most serious decisions mankind has ever had to take.

FOR 40 years I have picked forest mushrooms every autumn and winter, but I have never seen the abundance of perfect Boletus edulis, the king of mushrooms, that I encountered this year. I didn’t find them myself.

IT IS hard to imagine how anyone with a little foresight could ever starve in Slovenia, in south-central Europe, where I spent the last week.

TWO new, outstanding nature books from Gill & Macmillan arrived in the post this week.

THE birds are back in the garden, not that they were ever gone.

IT is refreshing to discover that I haven’t lost my rock pooling skills and that the son, with whom I enjoyed so many hours of exploring the inter-tidal zone of our south-west coast, hasn’t forgotten the fish, their names, or the specialised habitat in which they can be found.

ON some mornings last week the slight chill in the air and the golden sunlight would make one believe autumn, “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”, had already arrived.

LAST Sunday week was Flying Ant Day on the Seven Heads of west Cork.

THIS week’s column must necessarily be discursive if I’m to mention even half the events I’ve noticed or heard of from readers.