RECENTLY, for the umpteenth time, RTÉ again screened the David Lean epic, Ryan’s Daughter, filmed in the Dingle Peninsula, in 1969/’70.

THERE are regular warnings from wild deer organisations that Ireland’s deer population is declining. However, we also hear the opposite story from farmers, road users and other observers — that deer are becoming quite numerous and are now seen in areas where they have never previously been.

MANY of us will take the opportunity this bank holiday weekend to get out and enjoy Ireland in bloom, for we are now in probably the premium time of year for viewing the wonders of nature.

PEOPLE who grow potatoes are proudly taking note these days as strong stalks signal a healthy crop of "earlies’’.

THIRTY per cent of food purchased by households in Ireland is wasted, so we need new methods of its disposal.

EXPERTS tell us Ireland has the best ocean wind and wave power in Europe, so why then are developers pressing ahead with controversial wind farms on land? A mindset objecting to turbines and overland pylons — similar to the public mood opposing dumps in the past — is growing, with communities up in arms around the country.

A RIVER flowing through a town should, you might expect, be seen as an advantage — not only for its beauty and environmental value, but also for very practical reasons.

IT’S the time of year when the rhododendron blooms, standing out from most other plants in all its deep red, purple and cerise splendour. The rhodo looks magnificent and little wonder that it get a mention in romantic songs. However, the wild rhodo is in a category of plants with a bad name: “invasive species’’ that were brought into the country.

THE whine of the chainsaw can still be heard in the countryside as people continue to cut up trees laid low by Storm Darwin more than two months ago. You might say the ferocious storm had a sort of silver lining in that the fallen trees will result in more use of renewable fuel.

That estimable survivor of the showband era, Big Tom McBride from Co Monaghan, once had a hit about an old-fashioned Irish mother “in the fields where the wildflowers grow’’.