THE OTHER day I was trimming back a hedge that had grown unruly and was creating too much shade over part of my garden. It was a boundary hedge of native trees and plants and I would guess it was at least a couple of hundred years old so I was trying to treat it with some respect.

ON Wednesday, August 8, there was a sad story on RTÉ Radio’s News at One. It was the announcement that the Yangtze River dolphin was extinct.

THE other day I was having a drink with a neighbour of mine who is a part-time farmer.

I HAVE an organic vegetable garden. Organic gardening, according to the textbooks, is supposed to create harmony between nature and the gardener. You exercise a bit of give and take and achieve a state of balance in which chemical pesticides and fertilisers become unnecessary.

IF I step out of my front door these days I am surrounded by baby wrens.

I HAVE A friend who lives in a small Georgian house.

SEVERAL SPECIES of bird that breed in Ireland are summer migrants that come to us from Africa.

I LIVE surrounded by ash trees.

THE other day I had a very pleasant job to do.

THERE’S a large elder tree on my patio and a pair of wood pigeons have nested in it.