Category Archives: Uncategorized

Here is today’s Country Diary in the Guardian. A little piece about reed buntings. I discovered the marvels of Donnybrewer while I was doing my PhD some years back. It was one of my favourite fieldwork sites, thanks to these … Continue reading →

What a joy this has been. The chicks were due to hatch by yesterday, but as I write they haven’t quite made a clear appearance, although their cheeps have been constant, and I’ve seen a wee head, I’m pretty sure, … Continue reading →

I shouldn’t be writing this. I have better things to do. I am enduring another bout of RSI so I am typing very slowly and gently and trying to keep my left thumb away the spacebar entirely. My left thumb … Continue reading →

Cyphers 91 was launched online as part of the Strokestown Poetry Festival on May 2nd. I am honoured to have had my poem “I Sing Me To More Myself” (poem 2 of my Reed Bunting sequence, where the form of … Continue reading →

Best I can do in terms of a mash-up. Snaffling off Dynamic Ecology again, but who could resist this? (And Jeremy is – almost always – right)

As someone who used to be vaguely scientific, I enjoyed this immensely. The original is just as hilarious. What ARE fish even doing down there???

I was expecting this to appear in today’s Guardian, but it was out yesterday. And I missed it! I must be getting blasé … On a separate note, I noticed this. Heartbreaking. Idaho’s wolves are descended from a small number … Continue reading →

I’m delighted to be a recipient of an Arts Council of Northern Ireland IERP2 funding award. Many thanks to Damian Smith, Head of Drama & Literature, and to the panel that made the decision. It’s a great boost for my … Continue reading →

Today would have been Elizabeth Bishop’s 110th birthday. The City of Key West (where EB was inspired to write the beginnings of Sandpiper) honours her today, and I can do no better than follow their example and “participate fittingly” (by … Continue reading →

My latest Country Diary (based on a visit I made to Tyrella on 7 January)