Wild Cities

Galway native and bird expert, John Lusby, is our guide to the wildlife and wild places hidden in plain sight on the streets and surrounds of Galway City. From adorable cygnets taking to the water for the first time watched by anxious parents to stunning slow motion footage of the Lesser horseshoe bats of Menlough Castle, there are creatures to meet and marvel at around every corner. Featuring the otters who have made Galway’s canals their home, salmon battling their way upstream at the city’s iconic weir, starlings coming to roost above the oblivious heads of passers by in Eyre Square and hungry Barn Owl chicks at feeding time, this promises to be an hour of enchanting and eye-opening natural history television.

This edition of the programme focuses on the wildlife of Dublin, featuring footage of deer in Phoenix Park, hares at the airport and geese at the port.

This week Wild Cities looks at the wildlife found living in the midst of the people of the rebel city. We meet grey herons on the hunt for food in the English Market, pied wagtails nesting among the Christmas lights and the terrapins who are the legacy of the 80s obsession with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The wildlife of Belfast, including seals in the harbour and a gathering of more than 40,000 starlings.