THERE’S good news on the wildlife front; BirdWatch Ireland has announced that terns nested very successfully on the east coast this summer. The numbers breeding ‘are at an all-time high’, says tern expert Dr Steve Newton.

Radio personality and nature enthusiast Éanna Ni Lamhna insists on living in the present and refuses to be defined by her age, says Margaret Jennings.

* The award-winning garden of Gertie and Maurice O’Donoghue at Dromboy, Carrignavar, will open this Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 6pm in aid of the Friends of Marymount.

PEOPLE who grow potatoes are proudly taking note these days as strong stalks signal a healthy crop of "earlies’’.

A campaign has been launched to monitor the country’s birds of prey amid fears that large numbers are being accidentally poisoned by infected rats and mice.

On hearing of a spud-related attempt to enter the Guinness Book of Records, The Menu immediately hitched up the wagon and pointed it westwards once more for The Menu truly venerates this most tremendous of all tubers.

Bugs and other “creepy crawlies” in our gardens are not all to be stamped on and lots of creepy creatures do magnificent work in their native habitat, according to a wildlife expert involved in an upcoming garden festival.

Some of the country’s most historic houses and gardens will throw open their gates to the public as part of a new garden festival taking place next month.

IN HER book Wild Dublin, Éanna Ní Lamhna mentions an unusual visitor to one of the city’s parks.

IRELAND’S first ever female champion surfer will be one of the leaders of the upcoming Surf and Sea Festival in Tramore.

DESPITE being one of Ireland’s smallest counties and overrun by people, Dublin is remarkably well endowed when it comes to wildlife.

LEADING environmentalist Eanna Ní Lamhna yesterday hit out at “silly nonsense” spoken by people who had no environmental education and who thought humans were the only species on Earth.

FORTY students will take to the wilds all over the south-west of Ireland as part of two new courses launched yesterday in Muckross House, Killarney by the Institute of Technology, Tralee.

ANYONE hoping to spark up the barbie this week should be smothering themselves in insect repellent as the rain build-up in recent weeks has created ideal mosquito breeding conditions.

PRIMARY pupils are learning about the effects of global warming by going out and taking a closer look at the birds and the trees.

Most people nowadays have more material possessions than they need and it’s almost impossible to select suitable Christmas presents for them. One option is to give books, so here are a few suggestions.

RTE bosses rolled out a new weekday schedule today in a bid to entice more listeners to tune into Radio One.

FESTIVAL revellers and sun worshipers basked in the unbroken sunshine and temperatures edging towards 20 degrees across the weekend.

FESTIVAL revellers will be getting up close and personal with creatures from the deep as the World Oceans Festival gets under way today in Tramore, Co Waterford.

MID-WEST entries are being given a head start in this year’s Tidy Towns competition. A special talk tonight has been organised to give committees from around the region some expert advice on how to clock up winning points.

ENVIRONMENT Minister Dick Roche said yesterday he was keen to build bridges between developers and conservationists.

THE place of science in everyday life — from the mobile phone to the microwave — will be among the subjects to be looked at closely at the 41st annual conference of the Irish Science Teachers’ Association (ISTA), in Tralee, Co Kerry, at the weekend.