Listen back to the Dawn Chorus 2026
- The Dawn Chorus: Part 1
- The Dawn Chorus: RTÉ lyric fm - Aedín Gormley
- The Dawn Chorus: Part 2
- The Dawn Chorus: RTÉ lyric fm - Lorcan Murray
- The Dawn Chorus: Part 3
- The Dawn Chorus: Part 4
- The Dawn Chorus: Part 5
- The Dawn Chorus: Part 6
The Dawn Chorus
RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ lyric fm | Sunday 3 May 2026
Listen to the Birds Sing
Nature lovers, night owls, early risers and curious minds are invited to experience one of RTÉ's most evocative broadcasts of the year, the Dawn Chorus, marking International Dawn Chorus Day, on Sunday, May 3rd 2026.
It is a day when millions of people around the world set their alarms, pausing to listen as the planet awakens through birdsong. From midnight to 7.00am, RTÉ Radio 1 and RTÉ lyric fm join this global moment, offering seven uninterrupted hours of live birdsong, observation, insight and music, capturing the instant Ireland stirs and daylight gently takes hold.
At the heart of this much‑loved tradition is Mooney Goes Wild, RTÉ Radio 1’s long‑running and widely respected nature programme. For more than 30 years, Derek Mooney and his team of naturalists have deepened our understanding of the natural world. Through vivid storytelling, live field reporting and conversations with leading experts, the programme has brought the science of ecology, conservation and biodiversity to life, helping listeners not only to hear nature, but to truly understand it.
The live broadcast of the Dawn Chorus is the clearest expression of that mission. What began as a bold radio experiment has grown into one of the most distinctive and ambitious broadcasts in Irish radio, a shared experience connecting listeners across Ireland and around the world through the voices of nature at daybreak.
Once again, the broadcast will centre on Cuskinny Marsh Nature Reserve, BirdWatch Ireland’s reserve on Great Island in Cork Harbour. As the sky brightens, ornithologists Jim Wilson and Niall Hatch will follow the unfolding dawn in real time, identifying species as they join the chorus and explaining what their calls reveal about the season, local habitats and the wider environment.
From RTÉ’s Dublin studios, Derek Mooney will guide listeners through the night and into morning, weaving together live reports, audience contributions and expert interpretation. Elsewhere, long‑time collaborators Richard Collins, Éanna Ní Lamhna, Eric Dempsey and Terry Flanagan will connect from woodlands, wetlands, gardens and coastlines across the country, capturing local dawn soundscapes as each place wakes in its own way.
RTÉ lyric fm presenters Aedín Gormley, Lorcan Murray, Peter Curtin and Ellen Crannitch introduce a musical dimension to the broadcast, exploring how composers and songwriters, across eras and genres, have drawn inspiration from birds and the natural world. When RTÉ lyric fm first came on air in 1999, birdsong accompanied those early test broadcasts, a fitting echo of the station’s enduring connection to sound, nature and the dawn.
Listeners are once again invited to take part by sharing their own dawn chorus recordings via WhatsApp, whether from a city street, a suburban garden, a local park or open countryside. Every voice adds to the soundscape, and every listener becomes part of this worldwide celebration of nature.
So set the alarm, open a window, step outside if you can, and listen as the country, and the world, comes to life. Join us on RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ lyric fm and the RTÉ Radio Player app, from midnight to 7.00am, Sunday, 3 May 2026, for a morning of wonder, connection and natural harmony.
Where are you listening to the Dawn Chorus from? E-mail (mooney@rte.ie) or WhatsApp (087 032 3232 / 00353 87 032 3232) - and when the birds start to sing, we'd love to hear your audio recordings of the Dawn Chorus wherever in the world you are!
Locations
RTÉ, Donnybrook
Derek Mooney will host this year's Dawn Chorus from the studios of RTÉ in Donnybrook, Dublin 4, where he will be joined by botanist, entomologist and author Eanna ni Lamhna.
Cuskinny Marsh Nature Reserve, Cobh, Co. Cork
One of our key locations for this seven-hour broadcast will be the BirdWatch Ireland nature reserve of Cuskinny. There, our man in Cork - ornithologist, wildlife writer and broadcaster Jim Wilson - will be joined by Niall Hatch, Head of Communications & Development with BirdWatch Ireland. For more information about Cuskinny, and the variety of habitats and wildlife that can be found there, visit https://cuskinnynaturereserve.com/. To follow Jim on Instagram, visit https://www.instagram.com/limosawit.
Co. Wicklow
From his home in Wicklow, Eric "The Birdman" Dempsey will be accompanied by Mooney Goes Wild reporter Terry Flanagan. For more information on Eric, visit https://birdsireland.com/. To follow Terry on X, visit https://x.com/mybroadcasts.
Malahide, Co. Dublin
Dr. Richard Collins has been a long-standing panelist on Mooney Goes Wild for over 30 years. Zoologist, ornithologist, lecturer and legend, he will join with Dawn Chorus 2026 from his home in Malahide, in north County Dublin.
Finland - Lohja
Throughout the night our colleague Rory Cobbe, from RTÉ Cork, will bring us updates on the birdsong that can be heard in Finland, alongside our friends in YLE (the Finnish equivalent of RTÉ): Minna Pyykkö, Jan Södersved and Patrik Lauha.
About our Dawn Chorus colleagues in YLE:
Minna Pyykkö
I am a nature journalist. Have been working for Finnish Broadcasting company for a long time. I am a biologist and a psychologist from Helsinki university and on my free time I paint mainly with watercolours. :) I have my weekly half an hour radio program "Minna Pyykön maailma" in our national radio channel Radio Suomi. It comes every Sunday morning (the series is found here- but in Finnish: https://areena.yle.fi/1-2143340).
For the last five years I have been hosting our live "Luontoilta" radio contact program that has been going on for 51 years now, where people can ask about finnish nature, and we have five experts (mammals, birds, fish and frogs and reptiles, insects, plants) answering them (https://areena.yle.fi/1-1644634). We also make live radio shows about different subjects. For example today evening we have a two hour special program about frogs and toads, where people can also call and ask questions and specialists are answering Luonto-Suomi (https://areena.yle.fi/1-77632135).
I also write articles, some social media clips, and sometimes we do tv programs and have some special campaigns. https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minna_Pyykk%C3%B6
Jan Södersved
Jan is working for Birdlife Suomi as their Head of Communication and Editor. He is also a biologist and has been an ornithologist from his childhood. He has also been a journalist for many years. He lives is Lohja so the knows the good bird spots there. He is also super nice and friendly and often used in TV spots, telling about migration birds etc...
Just recently he wrote a book about how to recognise 100 bird species. That is a challenge Birdlife has had here in Finland and many people have become interested in birds because of that campaign. (https://lintuvaruste.fi/products/tunnista-100-lintulajia-j-sodersved-2025). For more information about Jan, visit https://www.birdlife.fi/jarjesto/yhteystiedot/henkilokunta/jan-sodersved/.
Patrik Lauha
He is a mathematician, but also an ornithologist. He has been able to combine these two fields of interest in this big project (Muuttolintujen kevät) led by the Jyväskylä University and Professor Otso Ovaskainen. Patrik just finished his PhD this January but continues working with these bird sounds and AI. He is really nice also and obviously good with bird sounds. For more information, please visit https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/tutustu-meihin/ihmiset/henkilohaku/patrik-lauha-9380757 or https://helda.helsinki.fi/items/219f9a64-e96b-4ca2-bbf6-7d0a667eba43.
For further information about the Mooney Goes Wild team, click here.
The Sound Of The Dawn Chorus
It's now 21 years (somehow!) since Mooney Goes Wild and the RTÉ Guide produced a special CD called The Dawn Chorus: A Unique Celebration Of A Melodic Natural Phenomenon, marking 10 years of the Dawn Chorus. You can take a listen back to the tracks that were on the CD, by visiting https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/mooney/generic/2015/0421/695719-dawn-chorus-2015-audio-tracks/.
Your Dawn Chorus
During the programme, we've been loving seeing and hearing all your messages come in to us, from around Ireland and indeed around the world (including Salt Lake City in the USA, Victoria in Australia and Auckland in New Zealand!) These intriguing photos came in from Grainne Connaire of Blue Tits nesting in a letterbox!
