15:00 on Bank Holiday Monday 5th February on RTÉ Radio One
This February, as part of our Nature On One series on Public Holidays, Mooney Goes Wild will be teaming up with BirdWatch Ireland, Ireland's largest wildlife conservation charity, to bring you our inaugural live Garden Birdwatch.
The 35th consecutive season of BirdWatch Ireland’s annual Irish Garden Bird Survey – Ireland’s largest 'citizen science’ project and a big hit each year with Mooney Goes Wild listeners – is currently underway and will run until the end of February. It represents a remarkable and unparalleled collection of natural history data by amateur birdwatchers across the country. It is also a lot of fun; some might say even rather addictive!
Best of all, the data that participants gather is of enormous help to BirdWatch Ireland in understanding how our garden bird populations are faring, the long-term trends that are developing and which species need the most conservation assistance.
The survey itself is simple to do. Participants are asked to note the different species of bird that visit their gardens on a weekly basis, as well as the highest number of individuals of each of those species that are present at any one time. We know that many Mooney Goes Wild listeners have been taking part for several weeks now, but if you have yet to start, that’s no problem, as there is still almost a month left to go before the survey period ends.
To celebrate this remarkable citizen science project and to highlight the rich diversity of birdlife to be found in Ireland’s gardens, our live Great BIG Garden Birdwatch will not just engage with the people already participating in the survey but will also raise awareness amongst the general public of the wonderful bird species that can be found on our doorsteps . . . quite literally.
The live programme will feature up-to-the minute reports of birds from gardens in all four provinces of Ireland, courtesy of regular contributors Éanna Ní Lamhna, Richard Collins, Terry Flanagan, Jim Wilson and Eric Dempsey, as well as BirdWatch Ireland’s dedicated local branch volunteers across the country. Derek Mooney and BirdWatch Ireland’s own Niall Hatch will be back at base, helping to build the national picture on the day and discussing the observations as they come in thick and fast.
But that’s not all. We are also hoping that as many of our Mooney Goes Wild listeners as possible will get involved, sharing their own garden bird sightings with us, putting their questions to our experts and letting us know which garden birds are their favourites. You can contact the programme with your reports, photos, videos and voice messages via email to mooney@rte.ie.
Gardens are the perfect habitat for a great many of our native birds, with some even spending their whole lives there. If you don’t happen to have a garden, however, please don’t think that you are being left out. A small balcony or even a windowsill is still big enough for a hanging bird-feeder. Why not give it a go, then tell us what birds you manage to attract? You will almost certainly be surprised by just how effective such a simple step can be.
If there is one key message that we want to get across as a result of our special Great BIG Garden Birdwatch programme, it’s that the birds are not the only ones to benefit when we make space for them in our gardens and provide them with food, water and shelter. There is also an enormous benefit to us in getting to see wild creatures up close and personal, giving us a way to connect with nature and a whole new appreciation of the natural world, as well as a better understanding of the impacts, both positive and negative, that we humans can have on it. There is a lot that we can learn from our garden birds.
So, 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.
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://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/mooney/generic/2020/1116/1178558-jim-wilsons-guide-