Whatever the old Celtic calendar said about spring starting on St Brigid’s Day, most country people know better.

THE activity on and around my bird table is beginning to die down.

I HAVE a dog. He’s a playful, good-natured mutt of dubious ancestry, probably involving a liaison between a pointer and a spaniel. He does have one vice: a deep hatred of postmen. I met our postman the other day and apologised for the dog’s unwelcoming reception every time he made a delivery.

MANY of the wild mammals that live in our countryside are nocturnal and even species that are active in daylight, such as squirrels and deer, are extremely shy.

LAST week I was in England, visiting friends in a rural part of Devon.

IN the past amateur naturalists have contributed a huge amount to our knowledge of flora and fauna.

THERE’S no shortage of reasons for planting trees, though perhaps the most compelling one is the satisfaction from watching one of these great plants flourish and grow.

THEY say the best place to hide a book is in a library.

THE robin is the commonest bird recorded in Irish gardens, according to BirdWatch Ireland’s garden bird survey.

AS WE peer anxiously over the horizon into 2009, one of the few certainties seems to be that we will be in a recession.