THE way in which food has become a globally traded commodity in recent decades is truly amazing.

NOVEMBER is the best month of the year to plant trees in this country. So, if you’ve any planting ambitions, you need to get to work fairly soon.

A FEW days ago the news broke that yet another eagle had been found poisoned. This one was a golden eagle picked up on the Sligo/Leitrim border.

SMALL children tend to go through a phase where they ask incessant questions. At times this can be irritating for adults but occasionally they throw out a really good question. Like the little girl who asked me the other day: “where do flies go in the winter?”.

MANY people stop feeding the wild birds in their garden during the breeding season. The theory is it’s possible that young birds could choke on large seeds or pieces of nut that their parents bring back to them from bird feeders.

It's strange that there are no really ancient yew trees in Ireland.

HAVING a bird table and bird feeders outside a window, as I do, is undoubtedly beneficial to the birds outside and fascinating for the person inside.

THE other day I got a chance to talk to a marine biologist who’s an expert on conger eels.

I live in the country and the natural life that surrounds me probably changes more radically in the month of October than in any other month of the year.

I’M just back from a holiday in France. I stayed for a few days in Dinan, a beautiful medieval town in Brittany.