Review of “Curlew Moon”, Mary Colwell
Back in the days leading up to World Curlew Day I posted various curlew-related posts. One way on “Curlew Moon” by Mary Colwell. Rather shamefacedly, I must admit I had not read…
Category: nature writing
David Monacchi: “Fragments of Extinction”, the sounds of vanishing nature
With the prospect of mass extinction in the news, it seems a good time to reflect on the loss of soundscapes. In Ireland, the corncrake and the curlew were once…
“the unfortunate matter of the suffix -anus”
I am pretty sure I have overshared from John Wright’s “The Naming of the Shrew”but ah sure one more for the road: First, the unfortunate matter of the suffix -anus.…
Review of Robert Pogue Harrison’s “Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition”, Nthposition 2009
Another review of mine from the departed nthposition.com. I quite enjoyed this from Robert Pogue Harrison. And I am now even further along my immersion in the “dull adult world”, ten…
Sparrowhawk
On St Stephen’s Day, I awoke to see a sparrowhawk perched regally, and not at all discreetly, on the roof of one of our bird tables. It stood, as if…
Ember Days and nature connection
Today, Friday and Saturday are Ember Days. I had never heard of these (though “embertide” rings a faint bell) until I came across this tweet In a way Fr Schrenk…
“Swallows”, George Szirtes
George Szirtes is a poet who writes both children’s and grown-up verse. His book “How To Be A Tiger” neatly shows how ostensibly children’s verse can be as valuable as…
Meet the dung cannon, the cabbage parachute, the crystal brain , the mousepee pinkgill, the midnight disco, and the scurfy twiglet
All the above are fungi, as I have discovered from reading John Wright’s “The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names” When I was a medical student I did…
Séamus Sweeney 