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Episode Notes
Panel: Éanna Ní Lamhna, Richard Collins, Terry Flanagan, Jim Wilson & Niall Hatch
In addition to listening to us on RTÉ Radio One at 22:00 every Monday night, don't forget that you can also listen back to each of our programmes any time you like at https://rte.ie/mooney. There, you will find an extensive archive of past broadcasts, conveniently split into different topics and segments.
Here at Mooney Goes Wild we are gearing up for our special Great Big Garden Birdwatch programme, which will be broadcast live on RTÉ Radio One between 15:00 and 16:00 on Bank Holiday Monday 5th February. To wet your appetites and get you in the mood for this special event, as well as to help you get to grips with how to keep tabs on the birds that visit your garden during the winter, our suggestion from the archives this week is a chat with Niall Hatch about BirdWatch Ireland’s annual Irish Garden Bird Survey, Ireland’s largest biodiversity-themed citizen science survey, which was broadcast just a couple of months ago, in November 2023.
To listen to this segment from the Mooney Goes Wild archives, visit
https://rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22326123/
As for the inaugural Mooney Goes Wild Great Big Garden Birdwatch itself, don’t forget that we need as many of you, our loyal listeners, as possible to be a part of it. We are counting on you to share your own garden bird sightings with us, put your questions to our experts and let us know which garden birds are your favourites. You can contact the programme with your reports, photos, videos and voice messages via email to mooney@rte.ie, and a special WhatsApp number for you to submit your recordings will also be available during the programme itself.
For full details of our Great Big Garden Birdwatch, visit
Giant Penguins once roamed the beaches of New Zealand
The fossil remains of a previously unknown, and extremely large, species of penguin were recently discovered on a New Zealand beach. Kumimanu Fordycei weighed an estimated 150 kilogrammes and lived over 50 million years ago. Weighing about the same as a Giant Panda and heavier than even the largest bird alive today, this enormous creature would have been a graceful giant as it swam through the oceans, much like whales are today.
On tonight’s programme, Richard Collins speaks to Josh Davis, Digital News Editor with the Natural History Museum in London about this remarkable discovery, how these extinct giant penguins lived and how they compare to their cousins who still swim in the southern oceans today.
For more information about the discovery of this extinct giant penguin, visit
Let’s hope the early bird catches the worm
On last week’s programme, we spoke about the nesting seasons of birds and how some species will nest even in the depths of an Irish winter. Following on from that discussion, on tonight’s programme Terry Flanagan brings us news of a pair of Blackbirds in his own garden who have already started the construction of their nest, a rather unexpected occurrence in the month of January. But will the early birds catch enough worms for their hungry chicks over the coming weeks?
For more information about Blackbirds, visit
https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/blackbird/
Singing a different tune
On tonight’s programme, our panellists also discuss another species of bird which seems to be visiting garden bird tables and feeders with increasing frequency. The Bullfinch is a beautiful and unobtrusive little bird which especially loves to feed on flowers. The blossom of fruit trees is a particular springtime favourite, and the consequent destruction wreaked on apple and cherry orchards once led to a bounty being placed on the Bullfinch’s head; thankfully, that is now a thing of the past and the species is fully protected by law.
To our ears, the song of a wild Bullfinch is not especially remarkable or interesting, consisting of a few quiet and rather subdued whistled notes. Like all other European songbirds, however, Bullfinches will only sing the songs that they are taught when young. As we hear on tonight’s programme, if taught a different song by a human while still very young, Bullfinches possess much greater vocal prowess than one might expect. Queen Victoria kept one that had been trained to sing a perfect rendition of God Save the Queen, for example, while Tsar Nicholas II had one that could perform the Russian Imperial National Anthem.
For more information about Bullfinches, visit
https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/bullfinch/
Jim Wilson looks forward to our Great Big Garden Birdwatch
As mentioned above, the special Mooney Goes Wild Great Big Garden Birdwatch programme will be broadcast live on RTÉ Radio One between 15:00 and 16:00 on Bank Holiday Monday 5th February. One of our key contributors on the day will be our good friend Jim Wilson, who will be broadcasting for us live from his own back garden in Cobh, Co. Cork, where his feeders are well-stocked and teeming with birds. Jim joins us on tonight’s programme to tell us more about what to expect on the big day and to fill us in on some of the most interesting recent avian observations at his bird table.
Tune in to RTÉ Radio One from 15:00 this February Bank Holiday Monday to help us celebrate Ireland’s garden birds and the people who survey and conserve them, and don’t forget to let us know what you see on the day.
You can contact the programme with your reports, photos, videos and voice messages via WhatsApp or via email to mooney@rte.ie.
For more information about BirdWatch Ireland’s Irish Garden Bird Survey and to take part yourself, visit
https://birdwatchireland.ie/our-work/surveys-research/research-surveys/irish-garden-bird-survey/
For more information about how to care for and identify birds in your own garden this winter, please check out Jim Wilson’s Guide to Garden Birds at
https://rte.ie/radio/radio1/mooney/generic/2020/1116/1178558-jim-wilsons-guide-to-garden-birds/
Living Classrooms in the Garden County
For this week’s programme, biologist and roving reporter Terry Flanagan visits Co. Wicklow, the Garden County of Ireland, where he meets up with local resident and wildlife expert Rob Gandola. Rob is the Senior Science Officer with the Herpetological Society of Ireland, where he conducts research on the ecology and conservation of reptiles and amphibians in Ireland.
In addition to that important work, Rob has also become involved in an exciting new project called Living Classrooms. As part of this initiative, he will visit schools and help to create ponds in school gardens to encourage outdoor learning and an appreciation of the wildlife that the pupils can find around them. To date, seven local schools have had ponds created as part of the project, and Rob hopes that by the end of 2024 another 24 will have been completed.
For more information about Rob Gandola and his work, visit
https://twitter.com/RobGandola