Country diary: multitudes of coots sweep across the lough

Oxford Island, County Armagh: Scores of cormorants, rafts of ducks - this is what I've come forThe name Oxford Island is reputedly a corruption of Hawksworth's island, after a tenant who lived on the peninsula in the 17th century. But when I peer into a sharp wind across Lough Neagh, Antrim's northern shore is over the horizon, Tyrone's is vague, and it's hard not to be persuaded by the alternative derivation of ost-fjord (Old Norse for east inlet). If Viking longboats emerged from that offing, I'd scarcely blink.This place has long been water and ground of shift and change. I'm walking on earth yielded over the course of four lowerings since the mid-19th century. The lake once brimmed to that head-high bank of mature woodland. And, as I pause to admire the candlesnuff fungus on a mossy crumbling stump, my gaze snags on something fussing at the path's edge. The grey squirrel rears to stare back. Continue reading...