I HAVE spent several days this autumn travelling on the Grand Canal in my boat.

FOR several weeks my boat was marooned by an engine breakdown on the Royal Canal a few kilometres east of Mullingar.

WHEN you have a reputation for knowing about wildlife, you get emergency calls.

ON one of those days last week when the sun shone for a while I was sitting in a plastic chair in the vegetable garden with a basket of broad beans that I was shelling for the freezer.

I can’t walk past a horse chestnut tree without stopping to examine it.

A COUPLE of weeks ago I wrote about Monkey Puzzle trees, mentioning that the man responsible for introducing them to these islands was Archibald Menzies, a Scottish medical doctor and botanist.

THERE’S a town in eastern France called Vittel and every year around the beginning of May it holds a festival called the Foire aux Grenouilles.

ENCOUNTERS with butterflies are among the highlights of an Irish summer.

I HAVE a neighbour with a large garden.

IF you live in the midlands, as I do, a trip to the seaside is exciting.