Author: Dara McAnulty

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A Solstice Garden – magical, even in suburbia!

As I awoke to the call of the Robin, heralding the beginning of winter, the pale yellow light slanted through my curtains and my mind wandered to my Celtic ancestors. The Winter Solstice and the beginning of Yule (Alban Arthan) was (and still is, to some) an incredibly important time. …

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Aghatirourke Ramble – beautiful blanket bog!

December can be a gloomy month, the late Autumn light is usually scarce. Last weekend though, we were treated to an afternoon of glorious dappled light, so we decided to go for a ramble, somewhere different! We chose RSPB’s Aghatirourke reserve, I couldn’t believe we had never been there,  as we discovered its only a twenty minute drive away. …

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Brilliantly beautiful – lifting the blues!

On dark and gloomy November days, when light is scarce in between home and school, a flash of blue and green flitting around your garden will brighten the darkness and chase away the homework (or any type of) blues! It can lift your heart in a beat and brings a welcome burst of colour to your garden feeders.  …

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The Wild Swans of Fermanagh 

As the days get colder, we in Fermanagh look forward to some wonderful Wintering visitors in Upper Lough Erne. You could almost miss them, if your eyes were not looking for them, but these birds are iconic travellers! Welcome to my blog on the striking and majestic Whooper Swan (Cygnus Cygnus)! …

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Haughty and haunting: Herons!

In the beautiful lakes of Lough Erne, the magnificent Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea in Latin and Corr réisc in Irish) are a common but stunning sight. They are unmistakeable with their long graceful necks and haughty, stately presence on our lakesides and in our skies. …

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Amazing, blazing: Autumn!

There is nothing quite like it, when the days are full of slanted light, when the landscape is ablaze with colour. When the mist blurs mysteriously and nature sings its lullaby, lulling the hibernators to a deep torpor. Conkers, the crunch of russet leaves, fabulous fungi (I’m writing another blog on this!), …

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Rollicking and Rare – Red Squirrels!

Yesterday, in the afternoon, the Autumn sun in all its watery light, lured us outdoors. We all hopped in the car and decided to go to where my dad’s offices are; the beautiful Castle Archdale Country Park. We were hugely excited as my dad had discovered a new ‘out of the way’ path for us to explore and also found something very special scuttling in the trees. …

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Rescue and Release – Batty Adventure!

Hey everyone, it feels like a long time since I’ve written a blog! I haven’t missed a week without posting since my blog started and I’ve been getting messages asking me to hurry up with my next instalment. I think this is really funny as I never really thought, when I set out to do this, that anyone but my family or friends would really read it!! …

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The ‘State of Nature’ Northern Ireland 2016!

Hey everyone, as some of you may know, I attended the launch of Northern Ireland Environment Week (Farming and Climate Change is the theme – very poignant given that most of our land is farmed) and the ‘Sate of Nature 2016’ report on Monday night! …

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