Damien Enright: Remembering spring '92 when frogs covered the roads of West Cork

Columnist Damien Enright reflects on one spring 30 years ago when he noticed there had been no winter in West Cork that year

Once the urge is on them to breed, there's no stopping them.

Now, as I begin to wind up this column over the next three months, various 'Last Hurrahs' which may entertain my remaining readers occur to me. Firstly, provide a selection of the best 800 word pieces I have written during that time. There are 1,508 such columns to choose from, and to select the best dozen of is impossible. So, I've decided to select an encompassing theme for themes for the swan songs. My last column will been on May 23 and will appear in the print edition, as did all my columns for 30 years.

Nostalgia might be one theme. As I've written about everything from bluebells to blue whales and bumblebees and blackbirds, a log of nature, its appearances, disappearances and reappearances in my patch might be worth retailing for the record; my instinct is to inform and entertain, rather than depress my readers. Some columns selected from the archives may provide 'historic' interest as, simply, the observations of an Irish rural dweller who, life-long has been, and still is, entranced by the diversity, wonders and workings of the human and natural world.