The Department of Foreign Affairs is contacting British authorities after fears were raised that submarines using sonar may have caused the deaths of a record number of Cuvier’s beaked whales off the Irish coast.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has unveiled a €20m flood relief plan which will protect around 90 homes and businesses in two adjoining villages in mid-Cork.

A unique wetland and extremely important bird sanctuary in Cork Harbour is being earmarked for further amenity development.

More raptor deaths were logged during 2015 than in any year so far, writes Richard Collins

A councillor in Kerry is calling for a deer crossing instead of a zebra crossing for the village of Kilgarvan.

The first White-Tailed Eagle chicks of 2014 hatched at nests in Glengarriff, Co Cork and Mountshannon, Co. Clare, it has been announced.

The €1m battle to save the corncrake from national extinction has secured a major victory, with the number of calling male birds soaring this summer to levels not witnessed for almost 20 years.

THE recent sunny spell brought bees out in force; bumbles are flitting between flowers in my garden.

A new multi-agency initiative has helped to reduce illegal gorse fires in West Cork — and saved the local authorities a “six-figure sum”.

People living in a West Cork village have reacted angrily to news that a potential spawning ground may hold up vital work which could prevent their homes and businesses being flooded yet again.

An upgrade of the Dunkettle/Jack Lynch Tunnel interchange is “vital for the growth of Cork”, a Bord Pleanála oral hearing was told yesterday.

Council workers are preparing to remove more than 100 tonnes of wood clogging a river, amid fears it could cause loss of life and serious damage if dislodged during a flood.

Two community groups in Co Cork have expressed concern that “fish before people” red tape may prevent vital flood prevention works.

IN ITS efforts to re-introduce an extinct species, the Golden Eagle Trust is sadly advocating the killing of existing species. The trust’s website discourages farmers from threatening eagles by illegally poisoning foxes and suggests that they instead shoot them.

FARMERS in West Cork who deliberately start scrub fires during the closed season could face far stiffer penalties, including that of reckless endangerment which carries a jail sentence of up to 10 years.

MYSTERY surrounds why a record number of common dolphins have washed up dead on the southern shores of the country.

THE planned new €800 million M20 will become the first motorway in Ireland to be barn owl-friendly.

PARTRIDGES, as everybody knows, frequent pear trees during Christmas, although no self-respecting one would be seen dead in a tree at other times of the year.

PROPOSALS to build a €63 million gas pipeline to supply industries in the Cork region have been unveiled at an oral hearing.