#Donal Hickey

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

Hedgehogs getting ready for hibernation
Hedgehogs getting ready for hibernation
Studies from Britain and elsewhere in Europe have found that hedgehog numbers are in steep decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation from changing farming practices and development. As the environment in Ireland is experiencing similar pressures the hedgehog population in Ireland may be similarly affected — link to study below

Thu, 13 Nov, 2025

Donal Hickey: Keep your distance from seals — even the cutest pups
Donal Hickey: Keep your distance from seals — even the cutest pups
Every year, well-meaning members of the public approach seal pups on the beach, not realising the harm it can cause

Thu, 06 Nov, 2025

Mink with Wet Fur
Donal Hickey: Mink eradication pilot programme underway in the Midlands
American mink were first recorded in the wild, in Ireland, more than 60 years ago, and have spread countrywide since then. The current population is descended from animals which either escaped, or were released, from mink farms

Thu, 30 Oct, 2025

Donal Hickey: What you need to know about deer rut season at Killarney National Park
Donal Hickey: What you need to know about deer rut season at Killarney National Park
Great nature photo opportunities here — but don't be one of those amateur photographers who wander into the fields and get too close to the herds, disrupting the animals’ normal routines. And definitely don't approach fighting stags... that's a recipe for disaster

Thu, 23 Oct, 2025

Donal Hickey: Here's how to take part in traditional Burren winterage walk
Donal Hickey: Here's how to take part in traditional Burren winterage walk
Winterage — where cattle move to the uplands for winter grazing — plays a vital role in protecting one of our most biodiverse landscapes.

Thu, 09 Oct, 2025

A Disordered Medicine Drawer Containing Various Pills, Packaging, and Additional Items
Tackling out-of-date medicines — they can be a serious health and environmental risk
Internationally, one of the most pressing health challenges of our time is the problem of bacteria and viruses which resist the effects of medicine. Every antibiotic incorrectly disposed of adds to this problem

Thu, 25 Sep, 2025

How do you like them apples... huge amount of fruit on trees in gardens and orchards
How do you like them apples... huge amount of fruit on trees in gardens and orchards
We had the ideal conditions for apple-growing this year — and scroll down for recipes for apple tart or mulled apple and whiskey

Thu, 11 Sep, 2025

Donal Hickey: Best blackberry season in years, isn't it?
Donal Hickey: Best blackberry season in years, isn't it?
There's a bumper crop of blackas on the brambles this year thanks to a great summer — scroll down for recipes for blackberry gin and blackberry drizzle cake

Thu, 04 Sep, 2025

Driver Delivering Online Grocery Order
Donal Hickey: Food waste is a big problem for our pockets and for the planet
When food is wasted, all the resources used in bringing food to our tables are wasted too. Reducing your food waste is a key action you can take to help the environment and save money too

Thu, 28 Aug, 2025

ladybug on a green leaf
About one-third of insects here under threat of extinction due to pollution, intensive farming, and habitat loss
Insects play an essential role in the planet. David Attenborough once said the world’s ecosystems would collapse if all the bees, wasps, ants, flies and others were to disappear

Thu, 14 Aug, 2025

United States China The Bumpy Road
US and China extend trade truce for another 90 days
The previous deadline was set to expire at 12.01am on Tuesday

Tue, 12 Aug, 2025

Increase in dolphin strandings — here's what to do if you see a live dolphin stuck on the beach
Increase in dolphin strandings — here's what to do if you see a live dolphin stuck on the beach
Ballybunion Sea and Cliff Rescue Service (BSCR) and the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) were involved in a rescue operation for a stranded striped dolphin at Long Strand, Ballybunion in Kerry recently.

Thu, 07 Aug, 2025

When close up is too close — who's the worst culprit for invading wild birds' space?
When close up is too close — who's the worst culprit for invading wild birds' space?
It is illegal to disturb and/or photograph nesting birds without a licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service

Thu, 31 Jul, 2025

The Big Butterfly Count
Donal Hickey: Small white butterflies — a welcome sight
Some believe white butterflies are the spirit of a deceased loved one letting you know they're ok. And folk tradition says you should make a wish if you see two side by side

Thu, 24 Jul, 2025

Homeward-bound goats, 'white horses' and adventurous gulls — all weather forecasters if you know how to understand them
Homeward-bound goats, 'white horses' and adventurous gulls — all weather forecasters if you know how to understand them
Some unofficial meteorologists say animals are amazing with an apparent ability to sense changes in the atmosphere and impending weather

Thu, 03 Jul, 2025

Older Couple Enjoys A Relaxing Day On A Sandy Beach, Sitting In Beach Chairs With Tropical Drinks In Hand
Donal Hickey: Links between climate change, rising temperatures and health in Ireland
Climate change could lead to 1,400 additional deaths annually in Ireland by the end of the 21st century

Thu, 19 Jun, 2025

Garden Allotment with Glass House
Donal Hickey: More allotments wanted — there's a 2-3 year waiting list in Cork
Community Gardens Ireland has written to Minister James Browne to call for a new survey of local authorities to be issued following a lack of engagement from local authorities

Thu, 12 Jun, 2025

Rain barrel in the garden
Midges, dogs, spiders, and fog were all once used to predict weather
In summers long ago, when midges were active on humid summer evenings, or ants began to appear in large numbers, our elders told us rain way was surely on the way. And it invariably was

Thu, 05 Jun, 2025

Just a tick — take time to find out about Lyme disease
Just a tick — take time to find out about Lyme disease
Tips on preventing tick bites include wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants and using insect repellent

Thu, 29 May, 2025

Wood spurge(euphorbia) close up
Bloom time for spurge, the plant once used to catch fish
Spurge is typically found in Cork and Kerry and in Northern Spain and Portugal — apparently this plant's poisonous sap was once a way of catching fish...

Thu, 22 May, 2025

Draining sewage from pipe into river, pollution rivers and ecology.
Donal Hickey: Solution needed to combat worrying trend of river pollution
There's a worrying trend in the loss of our highest quality river sites and an increase in poor quality sites

Thu, 15 May, 2025

Tobarnault Holy Well, County Sligo, Ireland
May dew as a beauty treatment and holy wells for cures — superstitions and ancient beliefs
Our ancestors went out before sunrise with bottles and jars to collect the dew from the grass. 

Thu, 08 May, 2025

Ennistymon community to celebrate efforts to restore river this May bank holiday
Ennistymon community to celebrate efforts to restore river this May bank holiday
The festival takes place exactly two years since a fish kill in the Ballymacraven River wiped out more than 2,000 fish

Thu, 24 Apr, 2025

Donal Hickey: Glorious weather — but will we be hit by the Scairbhín?
Donal Hickey: Glorious weather — but will we be hit by the Scairbhín?
The anglicised version of the phenomenon is 'scaraveen' and it has been known to strike between the last two weeks of April and the first two weeks of May

Thu, 17 Apr, 2025

Obsolete and out of date technology
Donal Hickey: A mountain of unused smartphones but 80% are recyclable
Many of the materials in a phone are mined from the earth, a practice which can be very destructive, so it makes environmental sense to reclaim these metals for re-use rather than mining new ones

Mon, 14 Apr, 2025

Lithium Solid State Battery for EV Electric Vehicle, new research and development batteries with solid electrolyte energy storag
Donal Hickey: Irish research on the next generation of sustainable batteries
Four countries — Australia, China, Chile, and Argentina — account for 90% of the production of Lithium. Sodium and potassium batteries are promising alternatives, sharing similar chemistries to lithium. Currently, Canada, Russia and Belarus dominate potassium production, accounting for 66%, in 2023

Thu, 03 Apr, 2025

Noise pollution near schools has serious effects
Noise pollution near schools has serious effects
Almost 60,000 cases in Europe of behavioural difficulties in children are due to environmental noise generated from transport

Thu, 27 Mar, 2025

Hedgerows are a haven for nesting birds — and are protected during nesting season
Hedgerows are a haven for nesting birds — and are protected during nesting season
Legal restrictions on cutting hedgerows between March and August 31 are to protect bird life during the nesting season, and to protect vegetation and wildlife habitats during the months of growth and reproduction

Thu, 20 Mar, 2025

Spotted a fox on your town's streets? Let the urban fox survey know
Spotted a fox on your town's streets? Let the urban fox survey know
Link below — red foxes are a prime example of a species learning to adapt to these rapidly changing environments. The study will focus on Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Derry, Galway, and Waterford

Thu, 13 Mar, 2025

Obsolete and out of date technology
Donal Hickey: Got a junk drawer like this? Time to get repairing or recycling...
We all pay the price for broken and obsolete electronics

Thu, 06 Mar, 2025

Donal Hickey: Sewage pollution and the pearl mussel
Donal Hickey: Sewage pollution and the pearl mussel
Once widespread, they are now found in very few catchments. Ireland is believed to have almost half of Europe’s pearl mussel population, with the Blackwater catchment accounting for a sizeable portion of that

Thu, 27 Feb, 2025

Bee on a dandelion with grass in the background
Donal Hickey: Welcome dandelions instead of banishing them
These early wild flowers are a vital source of food for pollinators emerging from hibernation

Thu, 20 Feb, 2025

Donal Hickey: Wearable air quality monitors to alert people of exposure to hazardous gases
Donal Hickey: Wearable air quality monitors to alert people of exposure to hazardous gases
The sensor technology has been developed by a team of researchers from University College Cork and Trinity College Dublin

Thu, 13 Feb, 2025

Donal Hickey: Forestry re-think badly needed — could a €20k forestry scholarship help?
Donal Hickey: Forestry re-think badly needed — could a €20k forestry scholarship help?
A Coillte Forestry Scholarship will award students up to €20,000 for the duration of their degree programme (€5,000 per year) to support with fees and living expenses

Thu, 06 Feb, 2025

DENIS SCANNELL
Donal Hickey: Will Brigid's promise hold true?
February 1 is regarded as the first day of spring by many people. In folklore, the saint promised that half of her own day and every second day onward would be fine

Thu, 30 Jan, 2025

Water Spouts Gushing
Raw sewage scandal — so many dangers with dumping untreated waste into our waterways 
More than half of treatment plants discharge water that’s not always treated to EPA standards... and the EPA has identified 73 priority areas for urgent action

Thu, 23 Jan, 2025

Donal Hickey: Remember the 'Big Freeze' of 1963? Jog your memory with these images
Donal Hickey: Remember the 'Big Freeze' of 1963? Jog your memory with these images
Blocked roads, frozen seas, school closures... and hard work and good neighbours

Thu, 16 Jan, 2025

Donal Hickey: Early (black)bird gets spring things going
Donal Hickey: Early (black)bird gets spring things going
We have had early tulips and daffodils thanks for mainly mild weather this winter so this could be why garden birds are out looking for mates and proclaiming territory so early too

Thu, 09 Jan, 2025

Glorious grey rock: Ireland's drystone walls get international recognition
Glorious grey rock: Ireland's drystone walls get international recognition
Unesco recently included dry stone wall construction here in its list of protected, cultural heritage practices around the world. Good news as a new year begins, and a promise of safeguarding another part of our heritage following a long campaign

Thu, 02 Jan, 2025

Donal Hickey: You never know what you might find on a walk along the shorefront
Donal Hickey: You never know what you might find on a walk along the shorefront
Cargo 'leaked' from sunken shipwrecks, lost loggerhead turtles, interesting jellyfish, or maybe a message in a bottle... have all been found on Irish shores

Thu, 26 Dec, 2024

Hand holding a tablet with smart home system applications
Donal Hickey: How to save on energy bills over the Christmas period
Solar lights, being nifty with your cooking, and delaying putting on the heating if you're out and about anyway can all help reduce bills

Thu, 19 Dec, 2024

'Tis the season... for barn owl nest box maintenance
'Tis the season... for barn owl nest box maintenance
Barn owls can be killed if they eat poisoned rats or mice — these birds are themselves one of the best means of natural rodent control

Thu, 12 Dec, 2024

Donal Hickey: How we roll — road freight increase
Donal Hickey: How we roll — road freight increase
Ireland's former, well-developed rail freight system went into decline as roads improved

Thu, 05 Dec, 2024

Pushy Salesman
Donal Hickey: National retrofitting grants plan gaining momentum
The grant for a deep retrofit has been raised from 35% to 50% and to 80% for attic and cavity wall insulation

Thu, 28 Nov, 2024

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