Tag Archives: birds

Chasing my tail

Posted on June 7, 2025 by Mary Montague

It’s been a while. First there’s the matter of my most recent contribution to The Guardian‘s Country Diary. As the more long-memoried of you will recall, I wrote about Newgrange for December. And I went back to Brú na Bóinne … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Countryside – with Nicola Weir (and me!)

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Mary Montague

On the back of the publication of Under the Changing Skies, I was interviewed by Nicola Weir for Radio Ulster’s Countryside. The programme will be broadcast tomorrow at 2pm, but it’s already available on BBC Sounds if you want to … Continue reading →

Posted in Country Diary, Nature Writing, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The guidance of birds

Posted on May 10, 2024 by Mary Montague

My latest Country Diary is out today. I had the good fortune to be invited to give a workshop on poetry and birds at Jubilee Farm. It was a wonderful day in an inspiring place. It was great to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pre- and post- International Dawn Chorus Day

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Mary Montague

I’d a lovely day on Saturday, delivering a workshop on poetry and birds at Jubilee Community Farm, which is Northern Ireland’s first community-owned farm. We looked at a range of poems about birds, and then spent a couple of happy … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Bright Wings

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Mary Montague

So now for that magical encounter that I first wrote about a couple of weeks ago, here. Today’s Country Diary is the big reveal. Chaffinches have always been one of my favourite species. Indeed, I previously wrote here, they were … Continue reading →

Posted in Country Diary, Poetry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Dawn Chorus 2024: Before the clocks change

Posted on March 29, 2024 by Mary Montague

It was like old times today. I’d my alarm set for 04:30 so that I could be out for first light. 10 years after I completed my mid-life PhD – and almost 12 years after my last field work session … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment