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March 19, 2024 - Eleven years after the first edition first appeared on the shelves of bookstores around Ireland, we are proud to bring y...

June 26, 2016 - Black Guillemots, or Tysties as they are known in Scotland, are part and parcel of Ireland's coastline, with the excepti...

June 15, 2016 - Kittiwakes are brilliant. I just love watching these elegant seabirds effortlessly make their way over stormy seas with...

April 30, 2016 - There are a few regular Autumn and Spring migrants that have escaped me over the years. For example, after 30 years of b...

April 18, 2016 - On my way home from work one evening in March, at dusk, I was making my way across the Luas bridge over the Grand Canal.

April 14, 2016 - A recent brief trip to Cobh to visit the folks, one of the siblings and her progeny (my adorable nieces and nephew), res...

November 15, 2015 - After getting out of the waterproof and thermal gear following our final landing on Antarctica (and the trip), we headed...

October 03, 2015 - Our second morning on the Antarctic Peninsula and our second-to-last day of the Antarctic leg of the trip. It was sort o...

September 01, 2015 - The "Café" on Deck 5-Aft was occupied with the usual nutters in yours truly and Damian Caniglia just prior to sunrise. T...

August 20, 2015 - It's been quite a while since I updated the blog. It has been a busy few of months for me, for many reasons. One of the...

April 15, 2015 - The morning of the 12th day of the trip was rougher than normal. This was evidenced by the appearance of sick bags on th...

March 30, 2015 - I am an emotional being. I wear my heart on my sleeve more often than I should, or at least I used to do that. The trip...

March 15, 2015 - I woke early, as normal, a bit more refreshed than the day before. An early night after a relatively calm day (emotional...

March 11, 2015 - After the mind-blowing experience that was Stromness, we steamed onwards for a few hours and headed towards Grytvikan an...

February 25, 2015 - The alarm went off at the usual non-holiday hour and I groggily dragged myself up the bar for a coffee, a biscuit (or th...

February 18, 2015 - After lunch, or rather two lunches (buffets, the enemy of all waistlines), we headed towards a place made famous by one...

February 09, 2015 - I slept fitfully the night before the dawn of the first day on South Georgia. The island evokes a land of wonder and awe...

February 08, 2015 - Another dawn, another coffee, more biscuits and more seabirds, albeit a bit quieter than the day before. A full day stea...

February 01, 2015 - Dawn broke under a low cloud, with some fog and drizzle surrounding the ship. Not ideal weather conditions for photograp...

October 30, 2014 - The Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, it...

April 11, 2014 - It was a winter to remember in terms variety and quantity of stellar "Northern" Gulls. Multiple numbers of Ivory and Ros...

March 19, 2014 - Snow Buntings are a regular winter visitor to Ireland, and in particular the west, north and east coasts of Ireland. The...

March 16, 2014 - Pacific Divers are regular winter visitors around the coast of Japan, particularly around the northern coastline, where...

February 25, 2014 - There really is something special about high Arctic species such as Polar Bears, Arctic Foxes, Narwhals, Beluga Whales a...

December 10, 2013 - When news broke in September 2013 that a juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) from North America was found at We...

September 15, 2013 - The Irish Independent magazine on Saturday 14th September 2013 featured me for their "Behind the Lens" series. The serie...

September 06, 2013 - Some recent reviews on our latest book http://www.collinspress.ie/the-birds-of-ireland.html Also a nice review in t...

July 30, 2013 - Hi all, it's been a while since I wrote anything for this blog. That is something which I wish to remedy and attempt to...

October 24, 2012 - By way of introduction really, I just want to briefly explain how I was lucky to be able to publish two books on Irish b...