What are Ireland’s Greenest Places in 2025? Share the places you feel are contributing to a better environment
We are asking readers to nominate the places across Ireland they believe deserve to be acknowledged
Biodiversity
World lost a record amount of forests in 2024 as fires raged
World lost equivalent of 18 soccer fields of forested land every minute
Students from UCD and TCD are joint winners of 2025 Mary Mulvihill science media competition
Deeply personal essay on the use of animals in biological research and biodiversity game announced as winners
What do changing rainfall patterns mean for the world’s nourishing grasslands?
Breakfast porridge, our daily bread and rice sustaining more than half of the world’s population are all bred from natural grasses
Spider venom could aid future drug discovery, say Galway researchers
New study finds that spider venom is ‘prey-specific’
Irish hares are unique but the law of the land is against them
Ireland is one of the last remaining countries in Europe where these mystical creatures can be legally chased by dogs
Live near a town? Got food or smelly shoes? Foxes and badgers may pay you a visit
Eanna Ní Lamhna on how to handle moths that want to make a meal of the food in your kitchen, the mice at risk from your lawnmower, and a bee-bashing bird
How can businesses change their business model to support biodiversity?
Climate crisis requires bigger efforts from business
Ireland needs multi-functional farms with biodiversity benefits. But how can they be supported?
Calls grow for farming supports to help landowners push ahead with national climate goals
How nature took the lead in the return of the crane to Ireland
Cranes were culturally significant in Ireland, kept as pets by nobility and may have been associated in folklore with death
Art can communicate messages about our dying planet that are otherwise hard to hear
Climate change: Art is humanity’s oldest companion and, as we ignore a crisis that threatens both, can be a powerful means of expression
Cornish hedges are works of art, with abundant nature providing the painterly flourishes
Two layers of stone filled inside with compacted earth and topped off with vegetation or turf, these are irresistible places for plants and animals to live
Garden chemicals can seem like a magic wand. But this is the lesson I’ve learned
It’s liberating to accept that you’re never going to be master of your own garden, and this isn’t a failing
Ireland has a dismal amount of tree cover but ‘wild’ is partly between our ears
A Polish forest gives a glimpse of what Ireland and Britain might have looked like 10,000 years ago
Shellfish dredging wiping out key carbon-catching seagrass meadows, Coastwatch warns
Environmental group calls for increase in shellfish diving and ban on ‘licensed damage’ after destruction in Co Mayo
Beautifully sonorous blackcaps have discovered the key to a comfortable life
Ella McSweeney: These astonishingly small creatures are an example of a species thriving in a world that is changing faster than ever
In search of the Congolese corncrake
Our mission: To discover whether this small migratory bird was faring any better in its (probable) winter home
My quest to see kingfishers helped me discover the river Dodder’s amazing diversity of wildlife
Photographing one of these unforgettable birds on a Dublin river led me on journey of reconnection with the natural world
Pollination: How to bringing the buzz back into our countryside, towns and cities
Pollination is a crucial and vibrant interaction between plants and animals, one that is also captivating
Pope Francis’s green legacy is his radical encyclical Laudato Si’ that upended centuries of Catholic teaching
Published in 2015, Laudato Si’ spoke of our serious moral responsibility to protect the planet
Why is this bug causing a big stink?
Éanna Ní Lamhna on the hawthorn shield bug, underground bees, and the red-listed yellowhammer
The antidote to Trump’s tariff chaos is a clean and green trade agreement
We need to muster the political mettle we saw during the financial crisis to avert the trade wars that threaten everyone
‘Our health is intrinsically linked to the natural world. Quite simply, no nature, no health’
If you think hospital waiting lists and access to GP care are challenging now, climate change will bring more difficulties
Abhainn: This Dublin walking trail is a love letter to the city’s forgotten rivers
Rosie O’Reilly, Dublin’s first biodiversity artist-in-residence, is on a mission to preserve the capital’s hydro-story
The starling: Decades of work to comprehend movement patterns in this feathered species
‘The shapes we see in starling murmurations are an example of “emergent behaviour” ... from relatively simple underlying rules’
Hedgerows are a shining example of nature benefiting from human intervention
The mix of plants provides a range of ecosystem services and habitats that natural colonisation would not achieve
Matt Murphy leaves an extraordinary legacy in and around Sherkin Island
Ella McSweeney on a thoughtful man who lived a determined and visionary life as a conservationist and educator
Yet another of our natural treasures is in deep trouble
Despite its status as a protected area for birds and wildlife, Lady’s Island Lake in Co Wexford is now suffering from a dangerous, if not fatal, level of pollution
Blindboy Boatclub: ‘We took the blue from the sky and put it in the ground’
The world now faces record heatwaves, crop failures and ecosystem collapse – a much greater threat than the famines we faced before 1909. What are we doing?
How to go green for St Patrick’s Day without the environmental toll
Consumerism has taken hold and celebrations for our national day can generate a lot of waste
Gamma rays could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions here on earth
Findings will inform targeting of emissions cuts, say University of Galway scientists
Striking the right balance on Irish offshore wind and protection of marine life
High-value habitats can be avoided if identified but it is the less obvious impacts that are so far known to cause the biggest effects
Eye on Nature: How a branch of the national tree of Chile ended up in Dublin
Eanna Ní Lamhna answers readers' queries about jackdaws bearing gifts, a curious shell and a couple of frogs who got carried away
Connemara National Park to expand by 250 hectares after land purchase
Minister for Heritage announces doubling of walkways in Co Galway nature attraction via partnership between parks service and Fáilte Ireland
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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