THIS morning, dawdling knee-deep in the water at the edge of the port beach at Valle Gran Rey on the Canary Island of La Gomera, I remembered standing in the same spot many years ago with a skinny boy, now a giant of 30 years, and looking at a big manta ray lying in the sand at our feet.

THE intention on the Saturday afternoon, our second day back on the island, was simply to sample our friend’s 2007 wine, stay a few hours and then go back down to the sea, the banana plantations and the black sand beaches.

Damien Enright says sunshine brings out best in nature.

Damien Enright meets with Foxes of a very different kind

Damien Enright says the world of nature has been knocked out of kilter.

DURING this year’s rainy season, temperatures have been soaring to 12 degrees at midnight in west Cork.

IS it to be another invasion of egrets, this time the cattle egret, a small, white heron, not quite as pretty as its cousin, the now familiar little egret, but pretty nonetheless?

IT IS to be hoped the threatened Canarian giant lizards will not fall victim to the likes of Jereme James, charged with smuggling three endangered iguana into the USA using his false leg.

Damien Enright contemplates a few of the wonders we are set to eradicate

AS WE enter the new year, the news from Bali isn’t as good as we hoped but it’s better than no news at all. Buying carbon credits, etc, may be a way to go, but I wonder if it’s not a bit of a cop-out after all.