Heritage & Habitat | The Irish Times

Hedgehog: Illustration: Michael Viney

Another Life: Hedgehog study to shed light on threatened reclusive species

Michael Viney: Urban sprawl and increased road traffic has contributed to its decline across Europe

Speckled wood butterflies in flying contest. Illustration: Michael Viney

Another Life: A classic dogfight between butterflies

Michael Viney: In tight spiralling flight they whirred past my nose, then vanished among distant bushes

The affinity of the Irish pine marten’s genetic heritage with the martens of Iberia echoes similar molecular links in badgers and red foxes. Illustration: Michael Viney

Another Life: Pine marten and its links with Spain

Michael Viney: Creature’s hunting of alien grey squirrel makes it agent of conservation

Kingfisher: off the the bank. Illustration: Michael Viney

Everyone remembers their first kingfisher

Dubliners can keep watch for this regal bird on shadier bits of the Liffey and Dodder

A bumblebee buzzes around in the warmth of the polytunnel, concentrating on a bed of overwintered broad beans.

Another Life: Spring sees launch of new all-Ireland ‘pollinator plan’

Michael Viney: With 186 biodiversity proposals, the plan seeks more land for pollinators on farms and council properties

Common gulls. Illustration: Michael Viney

How gulls spurned the seas and got hooked on fast food

Urban gulls must be Ireland’s most hated bird, seen as food thieves and noisy nesters

Breaching humpback whale. Illustration: Michael Viney

Another Life: Undersea noise caused by humans a major threat to whales and dolphins

Michael Viney: Celtic Mist, donated by the Haughey family, now serving as a research vessel for conservation body

Potato flowers. Illustration: Michael Viney

Another Life: Here’s hoping it’s a good summer for potatoes

Michael Viney: Variability of Irish weather continues to pose late blight risks

A gannet negotiates giant turbines of a coastal windfarm. Illustration: Michael Viney

Ireland’s coastal wind farms: An ill wind for seabirds?

Gannets and other coastal birds face the cumulative loss of foraging habitat

Why are the runner beans coiling around the Dublin Spire? Given the rush to grow things in the locked-down city this spring, it seemed a nice, symbolic notion. Drawing by Michael Viney

Another Life: Plants capable of adapting behaviour to survive

Michael Viney: ‘Within hours it had grown another 8cm or so, curving to tighten its grip’

Siskins feeding on seeds in alder cones. Picture: Michael Viney

Another Life: The hardy alder relishes getting its feet wet on river banks

Michael Viney: Sometimes, and surprisingly, Irish farmland can produce its own native trees, regenerating dreams of a lost forest

Bumblebee on flower

Another Life: UK report urges global policies to meet hidden costs of ecological damage

Michael Viney: Education in nature from an early age recommended by author

Mushroom fairy ring. Illustration: Michael Viney

Michael Viney: The secret life in my handful of garden soil

Another life: The mysterious and fascinating mycorrhizal fungi forms an intricate underground network

The French Pantano Romanesco tomato. Illustration: Michael Viney

Another Life: Lockdown and seed supply for Irish gardens

Michael Viney: ‘Look in ye drawer before money ye spend’ – good advice when it comes to seeds

Kayaking: the dream of some in fretful lockdown. Illustration: Michael Viney

Another Life: Kayaking and caving as routes of imaginative escape

Michael Viney: Steam issuing from caves must have seemed signs from spirit world

That storms claw at Ireland’s soft shores needs no proving. They have already remodelled the contours of many western bays and dune systems. Image: Michael Viney

Another Life: Ireland’s saltmarshes could vanish as sea level rises

Michael Viney: Government and its agencies finally taking threats of storms seriously

Thornback Ray: 'We wanted their wings to eat, not the whole heavy fish.' Illustration: Michael Viney

Another Life: Rays and sharks in danger of extinction in Irish waters

Michael Viney: Rays were once the standard diet of Dublin’s Ringsend, dubbed ‘Raytown’

Landings of exotic nuts are examined at length in the latest bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society. Illustration: Michael Viney

Adrift at sea: The exotic nuts that reach Ireland’s shores

The arrival of sea beans and other Caribbean fruits has been discussed for centuries

Badger and hedgehog. Photograph: David Rice, Co Clare

Another Life: Emotional human bond with natural world increased in lockdown

Michael Viney: People sought out trees, gardens and landscapes, the chance of wildlife large or small

The mid-winter of a good breeding year may find up to 20 million wrens in these islands, some six million of them in Ireland. Drawing: Michael Viney

Another Life: None flies straighter or with more urgency than the wren

Michael Viney: This little bird’s adaptability and pioneering spirit has created about 50 distinct races in different habitats worldwide

Closely related to amoebae, slime moulds develop a giant cell with multiple nuclei, called the plasmodium. Drawing: Michael Viney

Another Life: Moss growth this year has been exceptional

Michael Viney: Ireland has 228 myxomycete species, 142 of them are in Co Wicklow

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