Category Archives: Uncategorized

Singing through the noise

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Mary Montague

I’ve have been meaning to write about this since I saw this article in the Guardian a few weeks ago, on response of Galapagos warblers to traffic noise. Having done a PhD on the impact of anthropogenic noise on birdsong, … Continue reading →

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Celebrating 40 Contributions to The Guardian’s Country Diary

Posted on March 17, 2025 by Mary Montague

Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhaoibh! (Happy St Patrick’s Day everyone!). It’s a wee bit of an occasion for me today – my 40th contribution to The Guardian‘s Country Diary was published this morning. So in all the celebrations today, I’m … Continue reading →

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Is Mary Oliver a good poet?

Posted on February 23, 2025 by Mary Montague

Once again, this question (no idea if Henry is a relative, but I’d say not). In the days I mixed in “academic” poetry circles, I found myself, as I’ve blogged before, astonished at the sneery attitude to MO. And as … Continue reading →

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The turn of the Celtic Spring

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Mary Montague

I was lucky enough to be able to céilí at Danny Gormley’s in the townland of Rotten Mountain  (a transliteration from the Irish: the original name may have been rath tine (fort of fire) or raithneach muine (shrubbery of ferns), … Continue reading →

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After the storm

Posted on January 26, 2025 by Mary Montague

Yesterday there was a brief respite between Storm Éowyn on Friday and today’s pretty standard wind and rain. Thankfully we got through Éowyn fairly unscathed, losing only a couple of tiles from the “rooflet” over our downstairs bay window. Mind … Continue reading →

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Why does the bird bob its head?

Posted on January 18, 2025 by Mary Montague

My latest Country Diary come out in today’s Saturday Guardian. Which is lovely because Saturday is the day we always get the paper copy … Which also means I can upload this lovely image of a stylised redshank that accompanied … Continue reading →

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Winter Solstice

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Mary Montague

In the Christmas madness I’m only finding a moment to post my latest Guardian Country Diary today – a nice reminder, even to myself, of how the pause can be the moment of change. Thanks, as ever, to Paul Fleckney, … Continue reading →

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The Last Word

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Mary Montague

Well, hopefully not quite. I may well have more to say after the event but for now this is my last posting ahead of the launch of A Poet’s Life, Adrian Frazier’s biography of John Montague. Scroll through the programme … Continue reading →

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Return to the Rough Field

Posted on December 2, 2024 by Mary Montague

As we approach both John Montague’s 8th anniversary and the launch of his biography this Thursday in Garvaghey, it was lovely to see this perceptive reflection on migration and poetry by Stephen Colton, in Saturday’s Irish News. On the heels … Continue reading →

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The Joy of Reading

Posted on November 24, 2024 by Mary Montague

If I’d been able to add my tuppence worth as a comment to this article, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. But a couple of weeks ago, I read it and was dying to add this book to the list … Continue reading →

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