Sir, - I thought some of your readers would like a break from eulogies, tribunals, brown-bag money and bent politicians to share an experience with me. It happened on Good Friday, as I was with a good friend on Lough Corrib, communing, as they say, with nature and contemplating the day that was in it. In between we were throwing a line, in the hope that we could break the fast that evening with some fresh trout, when an unusual series of "firsts" of the year occurred. I saw my first mayfly, first swallow, first cuckoo, the first whimpereles (or May Birds as they are called around here), first thunderstorm, first trout caught in a thunderstorm - all this with the backdrop of the Dooras peninsula in the east and the Maam Mountains to the west. To add to all that, a gaggle of greylag geese, who must have decided to stay and not head south (who would blame them?) flew overhead in full cry.
How very privileged we are to have such a wonderful and beautiful amenity at our disposal. I can only hope that future generations will not take for granted what we have, and treasure and keep not only the Corrib, but also all our lakes and rivers. Yes, the fast was broken that evening with fresh fillet of Corrib trout, panfried in butter with lightly toasted almonds, a soupcon of capers, fresh chopped fines herbes and a touch of freshly squeezed lemon juice, and accompanied, yes, with the first new potatoes of the Year! - Yours, etc.,
Rory Daly, Portfinn Lodge, Leenane, Co Galway.