DESPITE claims to the contrary by anti-field sports organisations, hares are 18 times more plentiful in areas managed by the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) than at similar sites in the wider countryside, a recent study by Queen’s University Belfast has shown.

IT’S ironic that a time of a year when new life begins to spring forth, we also have large-scale destruction of natural features of the landscape and wildlife habitat, in Ireland.

DESPITE advances in the past 100 years, Ireland remains one of the least wooded countries in Europe with only 10% of our land planted with trees compared to the European average of 40%.

A RECENT visit to the magnificent Dingle Peninsula, on a day when there was a heavy swell in the Atlantic, illustrated yet again the sheer power of the waves that crashed into the jagged coastline.

BY tracking the long sea journey of a salmon from, say, a remote mountain stream in west Cork to distant Arctic seas, scientists can learn much about climate change.

WE’RE being told, everyday by the Government and the EU, that “green” is the way to go, not only in reducing carbon emissions, but also in job-creation.

A SPECTACULAR picture of a humpback whale raising itself out of the sea off Hook Head, in Co Wexford, made it to the front page of this newspaper last Tuesday.

IT has been said that the life cycle of trees is comparable to that of human beings.

AS well as a drop in the price of many goods, the recession has other benefits – the ravaged Irish landscape which has been the victim of a huge amount of destruction since the mid-1990’s is getting a break.

THE countless people that got new laptops, PCs, battery-operated toys, home appliances and any number of other electrical goods for Christmas have an issue – how to get rid of the old items that have been replaced.