As the year turns, let's turn our ears beyond the patch to listen to something different. A special episode to explore a year in Vermont with Micki Colbeck.

In the summer, I walked down to my favourite place in the world to listen and to observe. Being not doing.

Exploring the history of our hedgerows and what they say to us.

Acknowledgements

• https://www.mayo.ie/heritage/mayo-hedgerow/
• https://www.mayo.ie/getmedia/3c367b71-7008-46d9-a62a-c055fd2beb68/County-Mayo-Hedgerow-Survey-Report_Final.pdf

In 2018, the buzzard's shadow once again fell upon our corner of the west of Ireland. These are my reflections on their homecoming.

Acknowledgements

• BirdWatch Ireland, Buzzard Species Focus (2011)

• https://birdfact.com/articles/buzzard-nesting

• Colm Philpott https://xeno-canto.org/979487 

• Oscar Campbell https://xeno-canto.org/582314 

• Harry Hussey https://xeno-canto.org/578537 

Abandoned cottages speckle the Mayo countryside. Combining the hard evidence of census records, maps and onsite investigations with imagined, fact-based dialogue, I attempt to bring one home, and the people who lived there, back to life, if only for a few moments.

Acknowledgements

• https://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

• https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/view

• Patrick Kavanagh’s wonderful poem, If ever you go to Dublin Town

In search of the well of the eels that gives Pollanaskan townland its name.

Acknowledgements

• The GeoHive map view is a great resource from the government agency, Tailte Eireann and can be accessed at geohive.ie
• Maps of drainage systems, such as the Moy, can be found on the Environmental Protection Agency's Geoportal at gis.epa.ie
• For exploration of place names, begin at loganim.ie
  

A walk in the rain to date a local hedgerow using Hooper's Law.

Acknowledgments

Teagasc - https://teagasc.ie/crops/forestry/advice/forest-protection/ash-dieback/

It is September and the swallows have begun to leave, we are an island of comings and goings.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Sean Lysaght and Phil Barnett.

Kate St.John: https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2014/06/16/the-importance-of-tail-streamers/

Ornithology, Third Edition, Frank B. Gill

Czech Academy of Sciences, The extraordinary life of swallows: https://www.avcr.cz/en/news-archive/The-extraordinary-life-of-swallows.-What-do-we-know-about-them/

As the seasons change, a special episode with Phil Barnett to explore the inkling days.

This week, I delve into the changes that have occurred in a single field over the last 200 years in the west of Ireland.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to my neighbour Pat for the invaluable chats.

Thanks to GeoHive managed by Tailte Éireann for the map data. https://www.geohive.ie/

Cameron Roo, for the music, https://www.youtube.com/@Roocaster

All errors are my own, and I remain, as always, open to correction. Thanks for stopping by.