VIDEOS: Survival of turtles a tribute to nature’s resilience over our recklessness 

ONE unseasonably grey afternoon during this year’s unusually bright summer, the kilometre-long beach near our West Cork home was deserted but for a single figure in the distance, walking along the top level of the tideline.

He stooped and stood, stooped and stood, apparently collecting something; we wondered if it could be driftwood, seas shells or white quartz stones. As we drew near, we recognised him; a fisherman we knew collecting beach debris, especially scraps of fishing nets and ropes, but also plastic bottles, flotsam and jetsam junk. He showed us his gleanings; skeins of rope and tangled monofilament net, great balls of it lost from boats or jettisoned because they had become too tangled to unravel. Filling old fertiliser sacks, he loaded them on his worse-for-wear flatbed truck to be taken to the waste centre. He regular did a cleanup when he had time off.

more courts articles

Man faces prison for racist tweet about Irish international Michael Obafemi

Harry claim may be one of the 'test cases' at UK tabloid hacking trial

Reality TV star Stephen Bear jailed over sex video

More in this section

Paul Hosford: Paddy’s Day trips have more value than their price tags

Maeve Higgins: US saves the banks while the rest of society is left to rot

Michael Moynihan: A successful city for children indicates a successful city for all

CourtsOutdoorsPlace: West CorkPlace: AtlanticPlace: Pacific oceansPlace: IrelandPlace: UKPlace: La GomeraPlace: CanariesPlace: GomeraPlace: Charco del la CondesaPlace: Valle Gran ReyPlace: San SebastianPlace: La PalmaPlace: Canary IslandsPerson: FintanPerson: FinPerson: FabianPerson: Nico



S Joyce Fegan: How would Good Friday Agreement's architects have navigated Twitter?

READ NOW