RTÉ Archives was sorry to learn of the death of wildlife film-maker and former senator Éamon de Buitléar at his home in Delgany, Co. Wicklow at the age of 83.
Best known as a wildlife film-maker, he co-produced the series 'Amuigh Faoin Spéir' (Out Under the Sky) with Dutch artist Gerrit Van Gelderen. 'Amuigh Faoin Spéir' introduced many Irish television viewers to the natural wildlife in their own country.
De Buitléar produced environment programmes for RTÉ, the BBC and ITV and in 1986 he won a Jacob's Award for his work on the programme 'Cois Farraige leis on Madra Uisce'.
Éamon actively promoted the Irish language and traditional music, and was an accomplished musician.
In November 2012, he donated his entire collection of film, music and writings to the National University of Ireland, Galway. NUIG will partner with RTÉ Archives to preserve the audiovisual recordings from the Éamon de Buitléar programme collection.
In this clip from the first programme in the series 'A Life in the Wild',
Éamon de Buitléar retraces his steps back to the 1960s when the very first TV series on Irish wildlife 'Amuigh Faoin Speir' (Out Under the Sky) was broadcast on RTÉ.
Eamon meets Dr. Richard Collins, an expert on swans, and a former avid viewer of 'Amuigh Faoin Spaor'. De Buitlear remembers making his first pilot programme of 'Amuigh Faoin Spéir' on the subject of swans and reminisces on the antics he and Gerrit Van Gelderen got up to in the process. This programme was first broadcast on RTÉ on 11 January, 2001.
