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Outdoor Trails

Discover the great outdoors on Ireland's best walking trails

Geese taken over the soccer field
Anja Murray: Charismatic waterbirds arriving from afar this winter
One of the best things about October is the return of wintering birds, each species with their own backstory and life strategies

Wed, 01 Oct, 2025

Spooky season is almost upon us — here’s where you can pick pumpkins in Ireland this autumn
Spooky season is almost upon us — here’s where you can pick pumpkins in Ireland this autumn
Pumpkin parties, autumn events, pick-your-own-pumpkin festivals — they're all right here

Sun, 28 Sep, 2025

Seabirds at Bempton Cliffs
Birds of Ireland: Gannet
Gannets are our largest seabird with a wing span of 170-180cm — and they're unmistakable with their brilliant white plumage and long wings with black wing tips

Sat, 27 Sep, 2025

Could paludiculture be Ireland’s next big idea?
Could paludiculture be Ireland’s next big idea?
Farming on wet land instead of drained soils involves a shift in mindset, from battling nature to working with it. And in a country where bogs have shaped our past, paludiculture could play a role in shaping a more sustainable future

Fri, 26 Sep, 2025

Stark pollinator warning: birds, bumblebees and butterflies need more habitat to survive
Stark pollinator warning: birds, bumblebees and butterflies need more habitat to survive
The EU’s 10% natural habitat target is insufficient for pollinator recovery, say scientists — they need 16-37% habitat coverage in farmland ares for effective protection

Thu, 25 Sep, 2025

Migration and aging link revealed by long-term flamingo study
Migration and aging link revealed by long-term flamingo study
Flamingos could hold the secret to slower aging

Thu, 25 Sep, 2025

A Disordered Medicine Drawer Containing Various Pills, Packaging, and Additional Items
Tackling out-of-date medicines — they can be a serious health and environmental risk
Internationally, one of the most pressing health challenges of our time is the problem of bacteria and viruses which resist the effects of medicine. Every antibiotic incorrectly disposed of adds to this problem

Thu, 25 Sep, 2025

Common / Bandit Pipistrelle Bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) hunting at twilight, Berwickshire, Scotland, June 2008
Autumn Equinox and nocturnal animals
From here on in, we will have more darkness than daylight, making this a good time to consider the lives of wild creatures most active at nighttime. Apart from bats, moths and owls, many other creatures also become active as light fades from the landscape. Foxes, badgers, mice, and pine martens are primarily nocturnal, and half of all invertebrates are adapted to life in darkness

Wed, 24 Sep, 2025

Ancient fights and double-dealing politics — a visit to Boyne battle site
Ancient fights and double-dealing politics — a visit to Boyne battle site
Explore the River Boyne Battle site by following the arrows along a series of walkways before joining the Boyne Canal Towpath and returning by the entrance gates to Oldbridge, having enjoyed a 5-km outing

Sun, 21 Sep, 2025

Birds of Ireland: Storm petrel
Birds of Ireland: Storm petrel
A storm petrel flutters puppet-like with legs pattering and running on the surface when hunting. They have an erratic flight

Sun, 21 Sep, 2025

Man must decide his way forward to success or failure
Ireland’s climate targets: the clock is ticking and the bill is mounting
Despite the daunting gap, Ireland has shown it can bend the emissions curve. A 6.8% drop in one year proves that action, combined with factors like a mild winter and a shift away from coal, has an impact

Fri, 19 Sep, 2025

Fighting
How — and why — one swan family faced a challenge for territory on an Irish estuary
‘Might is right’ rules throughout the animal kingdom. Possession is nine-tenths of the law, it is said. The principle has no legal status but it does apply to swans — the sitting territory-holder usually manages to see off challengers

Thu, 18 Sep, 2025

Cork enviro campaigner takes a look into our sewers... so you don't have to
Cork enviro campaigner takes a look into our sewers... so you don't have to
Only the 3 Ps for the loo please says the de-influencer who visited a pumping station and discovered more than she wanted to know about some of the nasties flushed down our toilets 

Thu, 18 Sep, 2025

Testing the water of a reservoir for the content of microbes .
Societal acceptance of severe pollution and fish kills
Isn't it about time we make deadly nutrient seepages and toxic chemical spills a thing of the past?

Wed, 17 Sep, 2025

Bloody Sunday jersey, stone carving workshops and more at unique 'time capsule' museum
Bloody Sunday jersey, stone carving workshops and more at unique 'time capsule' museum
Tipperary Museum of Hidden History brings tradition and craft to life in a major heritage initiative involving stone carving workshops and willow planting and weaving sessions

Mon, 15 Sep, 2025

Birds of Ireland: Manx shearwater
Birds of Ireland: Manx shearwater
Manx shearwater are often seen feeding with gannets and kittiwake, forming large flocks called 'rafts' on the water

Sat, 13 Sep, 2025

Foraging in Ireland: A feast or fatal mistake?
Foraging in Ireland: A feast or fatal mistake?
Let’s be clear: foraging is not a game of chance. Mistakes can be costly, and in the worst cases, fatal.  And remember, in the great supermarket of nature, there are no refunds

Fri, 12 Sep, 2025

Brent Pease TON
The working day of some birds may be up to an hour longer than ‘normal’ due to artificial light
New research shows that light pollution caused birds to sing, on average, 50 minutes longer that they would were artificial lights absent. Birds in the brightest environments tended to begin singing up to 20 minutes earlier in the morning and continued doing so up to half an hour later in the evening

Thu, 11 Sep, 2025

How do you like them apples... huge amount of fruit on trees in gardens and orchards
How do you like them apples... huge amount of fruit on trees in gardens and orchards
We had the ideal conditions for apple-growing this year — and scroll down for recipes for apple tart or mulled apple and whiskey

Thu, 11 Sep, 2025

Connemara Coast
Colourful or camouflaged, crabs can live up to 20 years of age
Crabs constitute Ireland’s third most valuable seafood export, with an export value in excess of €60 million per year

Wed, 10 Sep, 2025

One of the largest Irish animals is at imminent risk of further decline — new report
One of the largest Irish animals is at imminent risk of further decline — new report
The flapper skate is critically endangered and are top predators and their absence, like taking wolves from a forest, can lead to impacts cascading through the ecosystem. It is hard to imagine that a species in a similar predicament on land would attract so little attention says ecologist PĂĄdraic Fogarty

Mon, 08 Sep, 2025

Birds of Ireland: Shag
Birds of Ireland: Shag
A shag's breeding plumage features distinctive forward-curling dark crown tufts and they have all-dark iridescent plumage with a thin yellow patch below the eye

Sat, 06 Sep, 2025

Donal Hickey: Best blackberry season in years, isn't it?
Donal Hickey: Best blackberry season in years, isn't it?
There's a bumper crop of blackas on the brambles this year thanks to a great summer — scroll down for recipes for blackberry gin and blackberry drizzle cake

Thu, 04 Sep, 2025

Richard Collins: No smiles for illegally released crocodile in Spain
Richard Collins: No smiles for illegally released crocodile in Spain
The one-metre long yacare caiman was smuggled into Spain from South America. As it grew, the exotic pet probably became too difficult to keep at home, so its owner dumped it into the reservoir

Thu, 04 Sep, 2025

Hands off nature — vital to defend the laws protecting nature and people
Hands off nature — vital to defend the laws protecting nature and people
Here's how to make your voice count and state your opposition to the proposed weakening of environmental laws across Europe — the European Commission has launched a consultation about the “simplification of administrative burdens in environmental legislation” which runs until September 10

Thu, 04 Sep, 2025

John Gibbons: The lie of the land — adapt or die
John Gibbons: The lie of the land — adapt or die
Does Ireland need to appoint a Ministry for the Future or a Future Generations Commissioner asks journalist and author John Gibbons in his new book The Lie of the Land

Thu, 04 Sep, 2025

Mating Ned Devine? The New Zealand snail turned global celebrity
Mating Ned Devine? The New Zealand snail turned global celebrity
"Most snail shells spiral clockwise, but Ned’s curves the other way — an unusual genetic quirk found in roughly one in around 40,000 snails."

Mon, 01 Sep, 2025

Sky Matters: The best times and places to see the lunar eclipse on September 7
Sky Matters: The best times and places to see the lunar eclipse on September 7
And the Autumnal Equinox is on September 22 — this is the date when the length of day and night are equal for every one of Earth's 8.2 billion people

Mon, 01 Sep, 2025

Monument believed to be the grave of a wealthy landowner who wanted to be buried upright 
Monument believed to be the grave of a wealthy landowner who wanted to be buried upright 
The nearby lake is reputed to be the domain of the witch of Bay Lough who was known as 'Petticoat Loose'

Sun, 31 Aug, 2025

Tinsel, traps, and teamwork: How experts uncovered major Asian hornet nest in Cork City
Tinsel, traps, and teamwork: How experts uncovered major Asian hornet nest in Cork City
Beekeepers and wildlife experts in Cork used innovative tracking methods to uncover and contain a dangerous Asian hornet nest

Fri, 29 Aug, 2025

Aerial
Drowning nations: Kiribati and the South Pacific’s fight for survival
If we fail to meet our own 2030 climate targets, if we continue to expand high-emission sectors, then our solidarity with Kiribati is nothing more than rhetoric. Every delayed decision in Dublin, every postponed policy on transport, every row over methane cuts, translates into sea-level rise in Tarawa

Fri, 29 Aug, 2025

Female gorillas choosy about which group to settle in — potentially an inbreeding avoidance strategy
Female gorillas choosy about which group to settle in — potentially an inbreeding avoidance strategy
Scientists have found that female gorillas shunned troops in which males from their own neck-of-the-woods were present, but opted to join ones in which no males were their close relatives

Thu, 28 Aug, 2025

Driver Delivering Online Grocery Order
Donal Hickey: Food waste is a big problem for our pockets and for the planet
When food is wasted, all the resources used in bringing food to our tables are wasted too. Reducing your food waste is a key action you can take to help the environment and save money too

Thu, 28 Aug, 2025

Seal pups on Farne Islands
Anja Murray: Life and death among Ireland's wild seals
These gorgeous baby Grey seals are born on beaches from September onwards... but going too close will do them more harm than good

Wed, 27 Aug, 2025

Artists wanted to paint the Marina 'hut' in Cork
Artists wanted to paint the Marina 'hut' in Cork
There's a budget of €9,000 to paint a mural on this shelter on the Marina Promenade near the Atlantic Pond

Tue, 26 Aug, 2025

The Burren: a magical place — but with eco pressures such as goat grazing
S The Burren: a magical place — but with eco pressures such as goat grazing
In the Burren there is a tension between opposing versions of nature: one that is man-made and closely hitched to an ancient farming tradition, and another that wants to free itself from the need for human interference

Sun, 24 Aug, 2025

Three European goldfinch or simply the goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) on a bird feeder with Nyjer seeds.
Light pollution tricking urban birds into staying awake longer each day
Researchers were ‘shocked’ to discover some species settling down for sleep 50 minutes later than rural counterparts

Sun, 24 Aug, 2025

Birds of Ireland: Cormorant
Birds of Ireland: Cormorant
Both male and female cormorants look similar — with a strong, grey, hook-tipped beak and a thick snake-like neck

Sat, 23 Aug, 2025

Rotorua, New Zealand
What’s the story, twiggy glory... stick insects in Ireland
There are more than 3,000 species of stick and leaf insects globally — and at least one has taken up residence in the south of Ireland

Fri, 22 Aug, 2025

female malaria mosquito (Anopheles funestus) biting a human arm. Image shot 2009. Exact date unknown.
Mosquito surveillance programme underway
From disease transmission to nasty bites, some insects just aren't nice neighbours

Thu, 21 Aug, 2025

A year in the woods — with its community of wildlife
A year in the woods — with its community of wildlife
An extract from Paul Clements' book about a year spent in a cottage on the grounds of Montalto in County Down

Mon, 18 Aug, 2025

‘Do not buy these flats’: residents warn about unbearable heat inside new-builds
‘Do not buy these flats’: residents warn about unbearable heat inside new-builds
Experts say many new homes being built are not designed to withstand extreme summer temperatures

Sun, 17 Aug, 2025

Glaucous Gull at the Baltic Sea Coast in Sweden
Birds of Ireland: Glaucous Gull 
An adult Glaucous Gull [FaoileĂĄn glas | Larus hyperboreus] has a wing span of more than 1.5 metres

Sat, 16 Aug, 2025

A close-up of a clean-up volunteer wearing protective gloves and holding small pieces of microplastic pollution on a beach.
What are nurdles and why are they polluting our oceans?
Buoyant, the size of a lentil and almost impossible to recover, millions of the tiny plastic pellets are being washed up on the coast of Kerala in India in the latest in a series of global spills

Sat, 16 Aug, 2025

Depletion of ozone layer, Ozone hole, illustration
Back in the ozone: How we plugged the hole in the sky
If we could do it once, we can do it again, whether it’s climate change, biodiversity loss, or the plastic in our oceans. We once had a hole in the sky — now we have a blueprint for how to mend the planet. And that, in anyone’s book, is a good news story

Fri, 15 Aug, 2025

ladybug on a green leaf
About one-third of insects here under threat of extinction due to pollution, intensive farming, and habitat loss
Insects play an essential role in the planet. David Attenborough once said the world’s ecosystems would collapse if all the bees, wasps, ants, flies and others were to disappear

Thu, 14 Aug, 2025

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