NOT TO belabour the pun but it can be said, in this summer of 2008, that the elements are an element of every conversation.

Damien Enright and family get stuck into the lovely limpet.

Damien Enright suggests we slow down and enjoy life.

Damien Enright reports further on our lack of insects.

Damien Enright on how to keep a pond-robber at bay.

LAST year, when I wrote that wild mushrooms in my part of Ireland seemed to be as rare as hen’s teeth, a German gentleman (and he turned out to be, indeed, a gentleman) wrote to tell me this was not the case at all. At least not in Kerry, and he could show me various wild fungi growing in profusion — but, on second thoughts, he wouldn’t.

Damien Enright says the decline of the bee may spell the end of our survival

PRICES at the petrol pumps soar.

Damien Enright on a journey through Eastern Europe.

Damien Enright visits the Tatra mountains in Slovakia