Many of our planet’s life support systems are on the brink of failing and without them life on Earth may be, at best, bleak, at worst, unsustainable.

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven, as Wordsworth mused in reference to the Limerick hurling set-up in the spring of 2019.

The green linnet, alias the greenfinch, deserves such lavish praise; the male, in his green array, has bright-yellow wing-bars and tail-fringes.

A portrait of the late John Montague by artist Colin Davidson will be unveiled in UCC today.

Orla Barry’s farming background has found its way into her current exhibition at the Crawford, writes Colette Sheridan

“If the written word could cure rheumatism I think hers might, like a dock leaf laid on a sting”

IF, AS Farley and Roberts suggest — based on research by an American academic — that being a published poet is more dangerous than being a deep sea diver, then the premise of this book is self evident: Not alone should poets be uninsurable, but their company should be avoided at all costs.

THE Poacher’s Curse is so action-packed and fast-paced one wonders if it was penned with the big screen in mind.

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The latest Disney/Pixar movie, ‘Inside Out’, is wowing both adults and children for the way it looks inside an 11-year-old’s mind. But what do psychologists think of the show? Richard Fitzpatrick found out.

IN Maine, on the western shores of the Atlantic, daffodils were blooming with the same enthusiasm as on our eastern shores a month ago.

A lake which inspired William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter is up for sale on eBay.

These cold, bright days, full of sun and fresh air, lift the spirits immeasurably.

John Keats

I CAN only hope the extraordinary weather of last week has continued into this one.

WE arrived home to spring in all its glorious colours, and to lovely weather.

AFTER the recent tragic and unwarranted incident in Northern Ireland, I noted that Enda Kenny attended the young man’s funeral for which he is to be commended.

A FEW weeks ago I wrote an article for this page about unusual garden birds and mentioned a photograph sent in by a reader of a snipe feeding on a suburban front lawn.

ONE lovely afternoon 15 years ago, on holiday in Barcelona, I wandered into the starkly beautiful Gothic church of Santa Maria del Pi for the first time.

SHAGS, despite their prejudicial name, are elegant birds, much more attractive than their cousins, the cormorants.

LIKE many, I’m sure, who bravely lined out throughout the ages in white-soled sneakers and crotch-hugging shorts on a Saturday morning for Dodgeball, I allowed my mind to – but for a moment – wander from silly team names, funny costumes and the 5 D’s of sport: dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge.

OVER the long, hard winter, Championship Man fell foul of an old enemy – the seasonal bout of melancholy. Down the years, he’s tried everything to bridge the gap. One November his wife suggested yoga, saying it’d take him out of himself.

THIS MORNING I woke to find light filtering into the bedroom and when I opened the shutters, I did so cautiously. Outside, the sunlight was almost blinding.

WE wondered anxiously aloud/ if the day would unveil new histories/ when all at once we saw a crowd/a host of golden opportunities.

THE HEADY scent of the hawthorn hangs in the air like perfume in a bordello as we walk up the leafy lane.

CELTIC manager Martin O'Neill is convinced only a literary giant could encapsulate the attributes of Henrik Larsson in a single sentence.

A war of words has broken out between TV gardeners and the chairman of Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time.

The babblings of television’s “chilled-out entertainer” David Brent are better known than quotes from the giants of English literature, a survey said today.

THREE meetings in Ireland this weekend, with quality thin on the ground and quantity set to flourish.

Aidan O’Brien unveils two potentially top-class juveniles in the same seven-furlong newcomers event at the Curragh tomorrow.

By Liam Mackey