THERE’S no doubt that the very best time of year to plant trees in this country is the second half of November.

THE other day I was being quizzed by a classroom of 10-year-olds and finding it quite hard going.

I CALLED round to visit Kevin, who owns land near the edge of the bog.

I’VE JUST finished reading rather a good book which would make an excellent Christmas present for someone with an interest in wildlife and the environment. It’s called Saving Planet Earth by Tony Juniper and it’s published by Collins with the permission of the BBC.

I SPOTTED it from quite some distance away and walked over to have a look.

I PUT a fresh log on the fire.

I LOVE the autumn and in the part of the countryside I live this is a particularly fine one. The Indian Summer is lingering on even into November, which will help to shorten the winter.

A BREEZY DAY with showers of rain is bringing clouds of leaves down off the trees. It’s the essence of autumn, my favourite season.

TEN days ago a public meeting was held in a hotel in Galway to discuss the threat posed to Lough Corrib by the invasion of an alien pond weed called Lagarosiphon major.

THE big larch tree in the garden has been on my hit list for some time. Its roots were invading the vegetable plot and it was in the way of a new run and pond for ducks that I’m building. The other day I finally felled it.