IT’S the season for overeating and the time of year when minds are most focused on food.

NEW laws should help curb the rapid spread of non-native invasive plants and animals around Ireland – something that is causing growing anxiety among people responsible for protecting waterways, nature and the environment in general.

FEW people forget the primal thrill of landing their first fish.

IRELAND will be well represented at the UN climate change conference which gets underway in Copenhagen today, with Taoiseach Brian Cowen and representatives of various government departments due to attend, but how have we been performing on the environment in general?

THERE’S less regard in Ireland for laws protecting wildlife than there is in Britain, a man who has been described as the ‘foremost wildlife detective in these islands’, suggests.

Donal Hickey on manipulating cloud to produce rain.

NO matter how well-meaning people might be in their concerns to save the planet, there’s still no better incentive to do something than money.

DURING the summer, the discovery of what some people believed was a sacred tree, in a church grounds in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, led to sensational headlines that set off a religious frenzy.

ONE of the major challenges in the years ahead will be to ensure the water we drink is safe.

AROUND now, people are getting a final chance before the winter to see hedgehogs in their gardens.