THE Perseid meteor shower, known in medieval times as the “tears of St Lawrence”, occurs each year around now when the Earth passes through the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle. The meteors are particles of dust from its wake.

VAMPIRES are evil spirits who force corpses to rise at night and seek out sleepers, whose blood they suck.

LONESOME George, the famous Galapagos tortoise, is described in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s rarest living creature.

THE Irish Sea has some unusual visitors this summer.

BOTOX offers the illusion of eternal youth. This dream substance, when injected under the skin, smoothes out wrinkles and forehead lines.

ENCELADUS was a familiar name in ancient Greece. Gaia, the Earth to you and me, was fertilised by the blood of Uranus and gave birth to children known as the Gigantes, one of whom was Enceladus.

EAGLES, hawks and falcons are the celebrities of the bird world.

WE are seeing an irruption of painted lady butterflies just now.

THE bird conservation equivalent of a school term report has appeared in Britain.

You can watch the antics of two blue tit families by logging on to the Mooney page on RTÉ’s website.