Columns - Irish Examiner

Richard Collins

We must protect red pandas

ACCORDING to Sandra Molloy of Dublin Zoo, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has changed the “threat status” of the red panda from vulnerable to endangered.

Mon, 16 May, 2016

Revolutionary petrels in Dublin

A sound sculpture staged at Dublin’s GPO Witness History Visitor Centre is entitled ‘Women of 1916 — Stormy Petrel/Guardeall’, writes Richard Collins

Mon, 09 May, 2016

The survival rate of lapwing chicks is alarmingly low

A farmer, walking his fields at this time of year, might come upon a clutch of four little eggs, their pointed ends arranged neatly together in a scrape on the ground, writes Richard Collins

Fri, 29 Apr, 2016

Long-distance Neolithic immigrant

How did red deer get to the Outer Hebrides and Orkney? Deer swim across rivers but they can’t tackle wide sea channels.

Mon, 18 Apr, 2016

Listen out for the bittern boom

‘A bhunnán bhuí, is é mo léan do luí, is do chnámha sínte tar éis do ghrinn.’

Mon, 11 Apr, 2016

Miniature doves found in the sun

ON JUNE 20, 1631, ‘Barbary’ pirates raided Baltimore, taking 107 men, women, and children into slavery. It was the largest such raid on an Irish or British settlement since Viking times, writes Richard Collins

Mon, 04 Apr, 2016

Blasket islander was spot on about long-finned pilot whale

SOME 350 pilot whales frequent the deep food-rich waters between Tenerife and La Gomera, writes Richard Collins.

Mon, 28 Mar, 2016

Ibis gradually winging its way to Ireland

In 1996, Pat Smiddy and Oran O’Sullivan predicted that the little egret would soon breed in Ireland. A year later, a dozen pairs nested at a heronry in County Waterford.

Mon, 21 Mar, 2016

Gorillas in the mix for genetics

GORILLAS, chimpanzees and humans had a common ancestor about eight million years ago.

Mon, 14 Mar, 2016

Jaw-dropping fears for sharks

Sharks and rays are in the news, writes Richard Collins

Mon, 07 Mar, 2016