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Some may have forgotten what it looks like, but amazing new photos taken by Hinode remind us of the sun's spectacular force. Add a comment

In the month of summer schools, Éanna Ní Lamhna waxes poetical. Add a comment

Visit ruins of a medieval church amd the stroll for a few hours on a shingle beach along the Murrough. Take care when crossing the railway near the car park. A bronze plaque recalls that guns were landed here in 1914 for the Irish volunteers. Turn south on a level path parallel with rail tracks. Add a comment

The edible carrot was spread by the Romans throughout their empire, and probably reached our shores with the coming of the Normans. But the wild progenitor of this crop grows all around our shores, and has probably done so for millennia. The tough tap-root of this wild relative smells strongly of carrot, but is tough and inedible. In August its cow-parsley-like flowers are in full bloom, not just on grassy sea-shores, but on many of our inland motorway verges too. The botanical family to which it belongs – the umbellifers – all share the umbrella-like flower heads. Add a comment

Phylloscopus tochilus Though unfamiliar to most people, the Willow Warbler is actually an extremely common bird in Ireland. Indeed, it is our most numerous summer migrant, with around two million individuals making the journey here each spring; they begin to leave for their west African wintering grounds in August, staging in Iberia en route. The species occurs in all counties, and despite its name is not confined to willows, nesting also in a wide range of young deciduous trees and bushes, woodland edges and scrubland. Add a comment

The cherry is one of the better know trees in Ireland because it is often planted as on ornamental street-tree. It ushers in the spring with a wonderful splash of colour. However, most of these white and pink blossoms have come from afar, mainly from Asia in particular from Japan. Add a comment