Nature

The Last of Us television series is driving amazing interest in the story, says cave explorer

Getting out into nature on your hotel break is good for you, and even more so when you have your loved one by your side

Éanna Ní Lamhna on Irish jays, the blackcap’s call and a non-dinosaur tooth

Liza Cauldwell began photographing flowers to help process her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment as she navigates through healing

Éanna Ní Lamhna on a woeful woodcock, a perished pipistrelle bat and a radiant redshank

How to help? Plant wildflowers, avoid using chemicals and get comfortable with messy, neglected areas

Having othered nature throughout history, we continue to do so in Ireland. Once you demonise something, it is easy to discount it

As CAP payments are oriented towards sustainability, nature-friendly farming can secure reliable funding for farms in an increasingly unreliable global marketplace

British environmentalist and BBC presenter Chris Packham on battling to save the planet, standing up to his enemies, and how his autism made him hate himself

Taking care of yourself now means you can reap the rewards of longer-term improved health and wellbeing in the future

The start of the year is an ideal time to try a new activity or sport – and if it ignites your sense of adventure, so much the better

Éanna Ní Lamhna on the angle shades moth, dog’s vomit mould and strange slime underfoot

Ireland must take ‘big leaps as distinct to small steps’ in developing renewables, says SSE chief

The concept is an eco-centric approach which is nature-led and human-enabled

Eanna Ní Lamhna on gulls, the amethyst deceiver and caterpillars of the pine processionary moth

Ella McSweeney: When acorns fall from the oak tree in autumn, a jay will hide up to 5,000 of them around the wood

Pop music boosts plant growth while laughter is a great learning aid, students at the Primary Science Fair at the RDS have found

Bank voles have become important as prey for Ireland’s barn owl population

Éanna Ní Lamhna on fungus lining a lakeside path, a plant used as a laxative and diuretic, and unsegmented thunderworms

Winnowburn is the first – and so far, only – verified Woodland Carbon Code project in Northern Ireland, the least wooded part of the UK

Éanna Ní Lamhna on the territorial robin, abundant-berry folklore and the unusual-looking but harmless triggerfish

Environmentalists, unlike business advocates, can see too clearly how the world works and are willing to call it out

Many native trees and shrubs provide natural bird food over several months in the winter

The hives were worth between €1,200 and €1,600, according to beekeeper Bruce Copeland

Once abundant in Irish waters, overfishing and climate change have decimated their numbers - affecting not just the fishing industry but the Northeast Atlantic ecosystem

Éanna Ní Lamhna on fungi, a marine worm and whooper swans

Populations of the tiny crustacean - a key food source for whales and dolphins - have declined by 80% since 1970 due mainly to demand for omega-3 health supplements

Irish Whale and Dolphin Group ask ships to slow down to avoid hitting immature whale

Wildlife rehabber warns against manicured gardens and insecticides as hedgehog numbers drop 30% in past decade

Ella McSweeney: Without radical and urgent changes in how we use the land, the future of our most distinctive lakes is bleak

Éanna Ní Lamhna identifies a number of creatures and explains the odd colouring of a mallard drake

Éanna Ní Lamhna on a finch nest, the great pond snail and water-skating insects

A bad day’s gardening is often the result of shoddy tools, so invest well in your implements

To watch a flower unfurl is to simultaneously be reminded of the fact that life is both worthwhile and fleeting

Clew Bay and Tralee Bay are their last known refuges here, where their numbers are so low it may be too late to help them. Still, scientists refuse to give up hope

Éanna Ní Lamhna on a German wasp, a ruby tiger moth caterpillar, and a Cormorant on the Dodder

Organism gives sea its distinctive smell and promotes creation of clouds, thereby playing a significant role in global climate

The speed of decline in the ocean current system known as Amoc will determine whether Ireland can adapt or face catastrophic impacts

To the committed fungus hunter, mushrooms bought with money will always be worthless or, at least, worth less than those captured in the wild

The Burren is home to 27 species of moths and butterflies found nowhere else in the country, along with all of our rarest butterflies and half our rarest moths