Outdoor Living

NATURE Pat Fahy on how our hedgerows help to sustain wildlife through the harsher autumn and winter months

NATURE John Shelley discovers his visiting hedgehog now has two inquisitive little hoglets in tow

NATURE Gardeners often call compost ‘black gold’ because of its value in improving garden soil

NATURE John Shelley spends a day angling for deep-sea mackerel, pollock and more out in Cleggan Bay

NATURE Creating a bog garden is easy and endlessly rewarding, with plants like yellow flag iris, flowering rush, marsh marigold and ragged robin

NATURE John Shelley brings some reluctant tourists to Achill, and the island’s wild charms wins them over

NATURE Pat Fahy on how making a wildlife pond is a truly rewarding autumn project, and some advice on how to go about it

NATURE John Shelley encounters a young red deer calf and its mother while fishing at the Owenwee River

NATURE The spirit of volunteerism and a can-do attitude has seen the construction of a big wildlife pond at Westport’s Rice College

NATURE A familiar roadside sight, Fuchsia was first brought to Ireland by Victorian plant collectors, writes John Shelley