Columns - Irish Examiner

Damien Enright

Ducks delight in glare of the supermoon

Maybe the ducks instinctively knew the supermoon was coming, writes Damien Enright

Mon, 21 Nov, 2016

Yellowhammers and the importance of hedgerows

HAS anybody seen a yellowhammer recently? Has anybody seen a flock of yellowhammers, asks Damien Enright

Mon, 14 Nov, 2016

Leaves of autumn inspire season of goodwill in passersby

The leaves underfoot are dry as potato crisps, lighter and every shade from pastel yellow to blood red. They crunch underfoot; they blow around the yard in eddies and whirlpools, writes Damien Enright

Mon, 07 Nov, 2016

Beautiful October days can overload the senses

RED October was the name of a film, I believe, to do with submarine warfare. These days, all over our island there is a clash of the reds, not the Reds of the Cold War but the natural colours of the landscape, the gradations from the russet of bracken on mountainsides and on the stonechat’s breast, to the red of holly on the forest edge and the reddening breast of the robin which, only a few months ago, was drab and faded.

Mon, 31 Oct, 2016

It is the stars, the stars above us, govern our conditions

I see that I can’t see the Milky Way as I used to. It may be my eyes, but it seems I’m not the only one. 

Mon, 24 Oct, 2016

Modesty matters before birds go courting

The birds were being modest for good reason, writes Damien Enright

Mon, 17 Oct, 2016

Timeless truth: Poetry and nature go hand in hand

The lapidary line of the tubercular John Keats is almost a cliché — “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,” writes Damien Enright.

Mon, 10 Oct, 2016

One knot to sing about, another a noteworthy must-have

KNOTWEED is flowering, those beautiful, lacy flowers that first won the hearts of the ladies and gents of Victorian England. 

Mon, 03 Oct, 2016

Learning begins as sea fog lifts from the west Cork coast

HERE, on the coast, we have sometimes had fog for days, while inland the sun is shining out of china-blue skies. 

Mon, 26 Sep, 2016

Back gardens boast wildlife in suburban England

On a visit to Manchester, I could not help but notice how numerous and diverse was the wildlife in my son’s back garden in Sale, Altrincham.

Mon, 19 Sep, 2016