Lorna Siggins

2 weeks ago | independent.ie | Lorna Siggins

Sweet news: Irish strawberries ready earlier after recent dry and sunny weatherJimmy Kearns owner of Kearns Fruit farm near Enniscorthy. Photo: Gerry MooneyIrish strawberries are likely to ripen earlier this season due to the current dry spell, with temperatures of 18 and 19 degrees Celsius forecast to continue for the coming days. Last week’s dry spell was only briefly broken by a few April showers.

2 weeks ago | independent.ie | Lorna Siggins

Also known as John Murphy, he was author of a history of the south-eastern shores of Lough Corrib, and was a key participant in recent research on the last speakers from that area. He was born in the hamlet of Addergoole near Clonboo, Co Galway, to parents Pat and Mary Murphy (née Leonard) on June 15, 1928. One of his earliest memories was of how he and other boys would be dressed in skirts to the age of three to stop them being “stolen by the fairies”.

3 weeks ago | independent.ie | Lorna Siggins

‘Surfing and the Atlantic saltwater helped save my life’ — Filmmaker Alice Ward on how the sea helps her thrive with cystic fibrosisWard’s award-winning short film ‘Salt’ explores her relationship with the ocean and will be screened at film festivals this yearFilmmaker and surfer explored the ocean's influence on living with Cystic Fibrosis When Alice Ward was born and wasn’t thriving, her mother Mary McLoughlin noticed her skin was very salty – a clue that she had cystic fibrosis.

3 weeks ago | independent.ie | Lorna Siggins

Washed in by any one of the recent storms, the marine reptile was lifeless and way off course so far across the Atlantic. Loggerheads, which get their name from the shape of their heads, are the largest, hard-shelled turtle species in the world and are usually swept over here from the warmer waters of the Caribbean by the Gulf Stream. Once hunted for their meat and eggs, they are a protected and endangered species, with ocean plastic and climate change among the main threats to their survival.

3 weeks ago | independent.ie | Lorna Siggins

Although he had no academic background, he facilitated the collection of 40 years of invaluable coastal baseline data, including Ireland’s most extensive phytoplankton monitoring programme. His own recording of Sherkin Island’s rainfall for Met Éireann from July 1972 — and other weather data from 1974 — continued until the week before he died. He was born in Cork city on May 21, 1934, and was one of two sons reared on St John’s Terrace.