Person: Niall Mac Coitir

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

<p>A bee feeding on a dandelion with grass in the background</p>

outdoors

Donal Hickey: Welcome dandelions instead of banishing them

These early wild flowers are a vital source of food for pollinators emerging from hibernation

<p>A bee on ragwort at Sun Valley Drive, Cork city. Ragwort attracts pollinators and is also an important host plant for the cinnabar moth. Picture: Larry Cummins</p>

outdoors

Illegal plant is everywhere and thriving

home and gardens

Donal Hickey: Ancient goodness of garlic

home and gardens

Time is ripe for this berry

Flowers show their beauty

home and gardens

The science of autumn colour revealed in new book and this video

Foxglove thriving in ditches

Foxglove, fabled in folklore not just for its beauty but also for its medicinal properties, is thriving this summer in the warm and, occasionally, sunny conditions, writes Donal Hickey

Mon, 22 Aug, 2016

Wonders of our wildflower

Some of the wildflowers that once decked the landscape are no longer seen, except in the remote corners, due to modern farming methods, destruction of habitat and the loss of hedgerows.

Mon, 06 Jun, 2016

Seaweed rich in nourishment and free, for now

Green weed carpets the beaches this year, as it has every year since the early 2000s.

Mon, 12 Oct, 2015

Wild plants are essential to wildlife

THE COUNTRYSIDE has donned its mantle of green and you can scent the fragrances of early summer, especially the vivid yellow gorse that lights up the landscape in April. 

Mon, 27 Apr, 2015

Wild plants are essential to wildlife

THE COUNTRYSIDE has donned its mantle of green and you can scent the fragrances of early summer, especially the vivid yellow gorse that lights up the landscape in April. 

Mon, 27 Apr, 2015

On the margins of nature

THE untidy and littered state of our road margins and railway lines is often criticised, but there are ways of dealing with the problem through the use of nature.

Mon, 10 Jun, 2013

Animal myths and bizarre human facts

AT Christmas, one finds time to walk and take the air and, perhaps, time to sit at home and read a book.

Mon, 06 Dec, 2010

Planting seeds of food and folklore

IT'S been a season of mellow fruitfulness, with juicy blackberries, especially, growing in profusion and tasting very good indeed.

Mon, 09 Oct, 2006