Wild Watch

This month we chat about two lovely and ecologically important animals that rely on hedgerows; the stoat and the pygmy shrew. Did you know the Irish name for pygmy shrew is Dallóg fraoigh, meaning blind animal of the heather. What a wonderful description!We begin with the importance of hedgerows and why it is illegal to cut them from 1st March to 31st August.

In this episode, we chat about the remarkable life of An fiach dubh, Ireland’s largest songbird,Belonging to the corvid (crow) family the raven is highly intelligent, forms lifelong pair bonds and performs stunning aerial acrobatics. We also ask; how do we know it's raven and not a rook?

In our final chat of the year we are all about owls.

Join Gerry and Aoife for a chat about Ireland's largest bird, the mute swan.

Did you know one of the Irish words for bat, sciathán leathair, translates to leather wing?Listen in to this episode with Gerry and Aoife for some more bat facts.And no, they won't get caught in your hair or drain your blood!

This month's episode is about small birds making huge journeys. Listen in to find out why they do it, where they go and much more!

In this episode Gerry and Aoife chat about the native red squirrel, how the non native grey squirrel arrived in Ireland, the impact that had on the red squirrel and the super hero that is saving the day.