Tree-like columns of Gaudi’s cathedral are a sacred sight

THE WEATHER here in west Cork is much warmer than the weather we left behind in Barcelona. It was evident from the time we stepped off the plane, in Dublin, and headed for Heuston Station, to entrain for the south.

I reduced my five layers of insulation to four, and, stepping out of a bus on the balmy shores of Courtmacsherry Bay in the darkness, I quit yet another layer, and dragged the suitcases to the house in a positive glow.

I found a long note from my pal, neighbour, and dedicated nature observer, Kevin Hanly: it said that a female peregrine falcon had been haunting the green centre of the neat estate where he lives. Her behaviour, as he related it, was surely unusual.