Panel: Éanna Ní Lamhna, Richard Collins and Niall Hatch
Reporter: Terry Flanagan
In addition to listening to us on RTÉ Radio 1 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 www.rte.ie/mooney. There, you will find an extensive archive of past broadcasts, conveniently split into different topics and segments.
Tonight’s programme features a wonderful discussion about the long heritage of the Old Irish Goat on this island. To help you to get to know these impressive animals a bit better, as well as to provide you with information on what to do – and what not to do – should you come across a baby goat in the wild, our suggested listen from the programme’s archives this week is a segment featuring Sinéad Keane from the conservation group The Old Irish Goat Society, which was first broadcast in March 2023.
To listen to this segment from the extensive Mooney Goes Wild archives, visit https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22221297/.
A bed of lettuce? We look at foods that can make you sleepy
Did you know that our diets can have a significant effect on our sleeping patterns? Éanna kicks off tonight’s programme with a quick run-down of some of the foods that can prevent you getting a good night’s sleep – cheese eaten shortly before bedtime being a classic example – as well as foods that can make you drowsy.
Of the latter, apparently both lettuce and turkey have particularly soporific effects, possibly because they contain high levels of an amino acid called tryptophan, which plays a key role in our bodies’ production of the sleep-related hormones serotonin and melatonin. The concurrent consumption of carbohydrates, such as those found in bread, may also play a role. So, if you have ever dozed off on the couch after a Christmas leftover sandwich, now you know why!
For more information about tryptophan and its effects, visit https://www.sleepfoundation.org/nutrition/what-is-tryptophan.
Old Irish Goat carries 3,000 of Irish history
New research, conducted by University College Dublin in collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast, suggests that the Old Irish Goat might have a continuous Irish lineage stretching back millennia. Published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the research shows this rare indigenous breed shares a 3,000-year genetic link with goats living in Ireland during the Late Bronze Age.
To find out more, on tonight’s programme we are delighted to be joined in studio by Dr. Kevin Daly, Assistant Professor at the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science. Kevin was co-lead author on this study, along with his late QUB colleague Dr. Judith Findlater, who sadly passed away prior to publication. Kevin tells us all about their archaeological and genetic research, the long history of wild goats in Ireland and the desirable traits which led to the goat being one of the earliest animal species to be domesticated by humans.
All of this prompts our very own Mooney Goes Wild G.O.A.T, Éanna Ní Lamhna, to burst into song, regaling us with her version of the classic Irish folk song An Poc ar Buile – The Furious Billygoat – perhaps most closely associated with the late singer Seán Ó Sé.
For more information about this important research into the long heritage of the Old Irish Goat, visit https://www.ucd.ie/newsandopinion/news/2026/february/26/oldirishgoatcarries3000yearsofirishhistory/.
In Back From The Brink (broadcast on May 19th 2024), Derek travelled coast to coast to meet the critically endangered Old Irish Goats, and to see first-hand how they are helping to restore balance and biodiversity in our vulnerable habitats. To view the section of the programme about the Old Irish Goat, you can visit the Facebook page of the Old Irish Goat Society by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1184065079441907, or you can visit the full Back From The Brink episode featuring the goats here: https://www.rte.ie/player/series/back-from-the-brink/10001699-00-0000?epguid=IH10004820-24-0002.
For more information about Dr. Kevin Daly and his research, visit https://people.ucd.ie/kevin.daly.
For more information about the Old Irish Goat, visit https://oldirishgoat.ie/.
Bidding farewell to our Brent Geese
Earlier this month, during our week-long series of Nature Nights LIVE programmes, naturalist, author and broadcaster Eric Dempsey made memorable reference to this time of year as the in-between period. Early spring is a time of transition, especially for ornithologists, when our first summer migrant birds are arriving at the same time as our winter visitors are preparing to leave.
One of those iconic birds that is about to depart is the Brent Goose, a species that is particularly associated with Dublin City, where it frequents areas of grass, even in very urbanised environments.
One such area is Le Fanu Park in Ballyfermot, where hundreds of these small geese are currently congregating on the playing fields to feed up before embarking on their long journey to their breeding grounds in High Arctic Canada.
Keen to find out more, our roving reporter Terry Flanagan travelled to Le Fanu Park to chat to Eric about the local Brent Geese, their feeding requirements and the amazing migratory journeys they make.
For more information about Brent Geese, visit https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/brent-goose-light-bellied/.
To listen back to all of the programmes in our Nature Nights LIVE 2026 series, visit https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/nature-nights/.
On the trail of Cuskinny’s Kingfishers
In addition to his many talents as an author, broadcaster tour-leader and musician, Jim Wilson, our man in Cork, is an accomplished wildlife photographer. In common with many other Irish wildlife photographers, one of his favourite species to capture on camera is the Kingfisher, perhaps Ireland’s most vividly plumaged bird.
Recently – as you can see from the examples here – Jim has very definitely succeeded in his quest, taking these stunning photos and videos at BirdWatch Ireland’s Cuskinny Marsh Nature Reserve near Cobh, Co. Cork. As he tells us on tonight’s programme, this is not simply the result of luck or happenstance; careful planning, meticulous observation of the birds’ habits and the erection of a dedicated photographic hide were also required.
Be sure to tune in to the Today show on RTÉ One television between 15:00 and 16:00 on Tuesday 31st March, when Derek and Jim will be talking to hosts Dáithí Ó Sé and Sinéad Kennedy about the Kingfishers of Cuskinny Marsh and taking a look at more of Jim’s stunning videos.
For more information about Kingfishers, visit https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/kingfisher/.
For more information about Cuskinny Marsh Nature Reserve, which is owned by BirdWatch Ireland, visit https://cuskinnynaturereserve.com/.
Time, like the Kingfisher, flies: Nestwatch 2006... can it really have been 20 years ago?!
Derek Mooney knows all about filming Kingfishers, as he recalls on tonight’s programme. Twenty years ago, a family of these gorgeous birds formed a key part of RTÉ’s Nestwatch 2006 programme. Thanks to our good friend Derek Mulrooney, the longstanding greenkeeper at Druids Glen Hotel and Golf Resort near Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow, an artificial Kingfisher nesting bank was constructed on the golf course and a special camera was installed at the back of the birds’ nest chamber, giving viewers across Ireland a hitherto unseen glimpse into the hidden lives of these amazing creatures.
To watch our classic Nestwatch 2006 programme, click the video above or visit https://www.rte.ie/video/id/12127/.
Ireland’s first ever Oriental Turtle Dove spotted in Lisburn, Co. Antrim
It’s always a real treat for birdwatchers when a bird species is seen for the first time in Ireland and is added to what is known as the Irish List. The most recent addition to that list came earlier this month, in the form of an East Asian bird, an Oriental Turtle Dove, that somehow has gone wildly off course and has taken up residence in a suburban housing estate in Lisburn, Co. Antrim. This vagrant individual is the first of its kind ever to have been spotted on the island of Ireland, and for the past couple of weeks it has been steadily drawing birdwatchers dreaming of adding it to their lists.
Our very own Niall Hatch appeared recently on Morning Ireland to tell listeners all about this extremely rare visitor, which has traversed the entirety of not one, but two, continents to reach Northern Ireland.
To listen back to Niall's recent appearance on Morning Ireland to discuss Lisburn’s Oriental Turtle Dove, visit click on the audio file above or visit https://www.rte.ie/news/ulster/2026/0323/1564729-turtle-dove/.