Living The Wildlife

Our first port of call this year is our capital city. Flowing through the heart of Dublin is the River Dodder and it’s a wildlife oasis. This river is amazing, it is full of fish and to find wild brown trout thriving in a European capital is almost unheard of. And where you have lots of fish you have lots of fish eaters. Colin is on the trail of the elusive kingfisher. Not many people are aware that the Dodder is home to a healthy population of one of our most colourful and beautiful birds. He has wanted to film a kingfisher in Ireland since the beginning of Living The Wildlife. It is only really possible to film a bird properly when it is feeding chicks on its nest. That gives a wildlife cameraman like Colin the opportunity to get the shots he needs because the bird will behave in a predictable manner. Colin manages to track down the nest, gets his hide up and settles down to film. The kingfishers are completely unaware he is there and he gets some wonderful footage. But he’s not the only one who is watching these beautiful birds; John Keyes is a local amateur photographer and he has been watching this particular nesting site for three years and Colin enlists his help. Colin also wants to try something new. He wants to see if he can get a kingfisher to land on a stick he is holding. He has gotten his hands on what he likes to call an “eejit suit.”

Colin looks at two very different woodland animals. Colin starts his journey in Wicklow where he meets Dick Coombs of Birdwatch Ireland. There has been a strange drumming sound resonating in the wooded hills of Wicklow. The Greater Spotted Woodpecker has been seen in increasing numbers here and have started to breed. Dick has spent the last two years with some dedicated friends mapping out where these gorgeous birds have been nesting. He is going to show Colin where the best nest site for filming is and is going to tell Colin some more about where he thinks these birds have come from. They haven’t been seen in Ireland for a thousand years. Colin then travels to Carlingford in Co. Louth with his youngest daughter Annabelle. They are going to spend an evening badger watching. Colin says: “There is nothing more rewarding than finding a nice badger sett, getting yourself in a comfortable position and waiting for the badgers to come out at dusk. Badgers are stunning animals.”

Colin witnesses one of the great natural events to happen in Ireland Colin Stafford-Johnson is in Annacotty Co. Limerick and he is about to witness one of the great natural events to happen in Ireland. Sea Lampreys are on their way from the Atlantic to build nests for the breeding season. Lampreys are amazing pre-historic animals who have an extraordinary sucker for a mouth and they use this to drag rocks around the riverbed until they are satisfied with their arrangement. But the lampreys have a problem. A man made problem. Annacotty Weir is preventing the sea lampreys from getting upriver to their traditional spawning territories. This means that a good proportion of our sea lamprey population is concentrated in one small area of the river. Colin has heard about a wonderful environmental project to remove this obstacle and restore and improve habitat for not only the sea lamprey but also the otter and salmon. He is meeting up with Ruairi O’Conchuir who manages the Mulkear LIFE project to learn more about the work that they plan to do over the next four years.

Colin finds out about the remarkable success story of the Grey Partridge Some may say that big Irish families are a thing of the past, but nobody has told the Grey Partridge. With up to 25 chicks they have one of the biggest families in the bird world. This didn’t keep them from becoming the rarest resident bird in the country. By 2002 there were only 7 pairs left in Ireland. Changing farm practices and over zealous shooting meant the grey partridge was on the verge of extinction. The NPWS and the Irish Grey Partridge Conservation Trust decided to do something about this and the result was one of the most successful conservation projects in Europe. Kieran Buckley is the project manager and he has an eclectic crew helping him with his daily work. Colin goes along to meet the team and we follow their work for a breeding season. As a result of the conservation project the Boora Parklands are a treasure trove of different birds and animals and Colin gets his camera out to show us.