Heritage & Habitat | The Irish Times

Stoat on dry stone wall. Illustration: Michael Viney

Home to lizards and lichens: the distinctive ecosystem of dry stone walls

As the climate changes the 400,000km of stone walls in the Irish countryside need care

Ruminant animals such as cattle burp some 40 per cent of greenhouse gases. Illustration: Michael Viney

Michael Viney: Live by the sward

Researchers have turned to the promise of multi-species grassland

The beaver may never have reached Ireland, but it’s an alien we could well do with. Illustration: Michael Viney

How can Irish people help stave off the end of civilisation?

Nuanced rewilding approaches can help but a less piecemeal approach will be required

Emiliania huxleyi, a type of phytoplankton which could prove useful in the fight against climate change. Photograph: Michael Viney

Plankton, salt sprays and other potential solutions to climate change

One team of scientists say spraying salt water into the atmosphere could protect Arctic ice

Broad bean flowers. Illustration: Michael Viney

Where are all the insects gone? My unease deepens year by year

The UN report on nature’s destruction has left humans dumbstruck or indifferent

Old Irish Goats: As the last remaining goats of their kind, the animals warrant protection, not least as an irreplaceable genetic resource for future breeding. Illustration: Michael Viney

Mulranny the proud last stronghold of the Old Irish Goat

Recognition of their venerable bloodlines has swept them into attention as a rare and authentic Irish breed

The biggest specimens of lion’s mane are in Arctic and north Atlantic waters, and one reason for its abundance off Leinster could be that colder water at the bottom of the western Irish Sea suits successful production from the polyps. Illustration: Michael Viney

Jellyfish make swimmers’ lives a misery but how important are they to the ocean?

The sea around Ireland has a host of gelatinous species - many come in bizarre geometrical shapes and assemblies

River Barrow prepares for next hatching season of lampreys

River and sea lampreys differ greatly in size and in the size and pattern of their teeth

Catkins: such is the way spring rolls across Ireland that birches in Cork are fully clothed well in advance of their Antrim siblings. Illustration: Michael Viney

The sadness of knowing that some day spring will come too soon

Climate change brings with it timing mismatches that threaten some species’ survival

Mistle thrush song. Drawing: Michael Viney

The song of birds has engaged the human psyche for centuries

‘You could argue that blackbird sings the words, whereas mistle thrush speaks them’

Basking shark. Between 1946 and 1997, the total cull from the northeast Atlantic population was more than 100,000 mature individuals, mostly female. Illustration: Michael Viney

Stark decline of basking shark numbers a cautionary tale

Giant creature now an endangered species in northeast Atlantic after a cull that lasted half a century

A new strategy will give the brown crab greater time for reproduction, and new, larger sizes for conservation have been proposed by fishermen

A new chapter in Irish inshore life is about to begin

As large trawlers are restricted, ‘low-impact fishers’ take up a role in the coastal ecosystem

It seems that a policy originating in 1996 has crept into practice under a somewhat dodgy clinical cover. Illustration: Michael Viney

Hospital flower ban: A bunch used to boost my little red cells

Flowers have been strongly endorsed as boosting wellbeing and speeding up recovery

Hummingbird hawkmoth. Illustration: M Viney

Straws in the wind of a storm that threatens us all

The Uninhabitable Earth a salutary warning for our increasingly threatened times

A storm petrel. Illustration: Michael Viney

Storm petrels: why we have no idea how many are left

The process of surveying the birds on Irish and UK islands is laborious and difficult

Ivy is opportunist, like any climber seeking light, but in no way parasitic. Illustration: Michael Viney

Give ivy a break – it’s a sanctuary for beleaguered wildlife

The global threat to the insect world gives the worth of ivied trees new significance

Bumblebee. Illustration: Michael Viney

A beeline for extinction? ‘Let’s not accept that it’s too late’

As threats to bees grow severe, garden design should consider pollinators’ needs

Goldfinches at feeder. Illustration: Michael Viney

Garden feeders have led to a goldfinch boom. Is this a good thing?

Are we sustaining goldfinches at an increasingly artificial level? And does it matter?

The unruly Atlantic. Illustration: Michael Viney

There’s no antidepressant like a good view of the sea

Older Irish people living along the coast have a lower risk of depression

Allotments with runner beans. Illustration: Michael Viney

There is something touching and subversive about vegans

What we choose to eat is often now linked to wellbeing of planet as well as ourselves

Phronima. Illustration: Michael Viney

Alien invasion: strange creatures hitching a lift to a shore near you

The autumn’s calm seas have delivered phronima ashore with a gentle touch

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