Panel: Éanna Ní Lamhna, Richard Collins & Niall Hatch

All this week, from Monday to Friday, at 22:00 Derek Mooney and his Mooney Goes Wild team of experts are bringing you Nature Nights LIVE, a celebration of Ireland's rich flora and fauna with a special emphasis on nocturnal wildlife. This year, we are also teaming up with the Tree Council of Ireland to celebrate National Tree Week 2026.

Each night, we will share updates from events happening around the country and highlight the trees we often overlook. We will be placing a special focus on Ireland's native trees, all of which support insects, birds and mammals, store carbon and play an essential role in keeping our ecosystems healthy.

We will also hear from researchers who work after dark as nocturnal animals begin their nightly routines and we open the phone lines so listeners can ask questions directly, with an expert panel in studio ready to offer advice and insights.

If you have any nature-related queries for our panel of experts or would like to share your wildlife observations with fellow listeners you can do so in the following ways:

A recap of last night’s programme

Yesterday, Tuesday 11th March, saw the second programme in our 2026 Nature Nights LIVE series, and it turned out to be a great one, if we do say so ourselves. Highlights included:

  • Listener Carmel Killackey telling us all about a Pine Marten raiding her bins in Co. Galway.
  • Another listener, Karol O'Donovan, who kindly sent us in a wonderful video of a Mute Swan coming in to land on the Royal Canal in Dublin, prompting Richard Collins to tell us all about the aerodynamics of these huge birds.
  • Éanna Ní Lamhna revealing more about National Tree Week 2026 and the central role that trees play in our heritage.

To listen back to last night’s programme, visit https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/nature-nights/2026/0310/1562716-nature-nights-tuesday-march-10th-2026/.

You can also listen back to Monday’s programme, the first in this year’s series, at https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/nature-nights/2026/0309/1562405-nature-nights-monday-march-9th-2026/.

Mute Swan checking out its reflection

A video was sent to us at the very end of last night's programme showing a Mute Swan apparently checking out its reflection in a pane of glass on the campus in University College Dublin. As Richard explains, rather than being a narcissist, the bird most likely believes that the bird is a rival that has dared to encroach on its patch.

This might seem odd to us humans, but many birds and other animals are fooled when they see their images in mirrors or windows. Perfect reflections don't occur in nature, so they have not evolved to understand what they are.

Savouring the smells of spring

Walking into the studio to broadcast tonight’s programme, Derek and our panellists were struck by the wonderful perfume of the night-blooming flowers on the RTÉ campus. The scent of the flowers may delight us humans, but that’s not why the plants produce their perfumes: as Éanna explained, it’s really all to attract moths and other nocturnal pollinating insects.

This prompted Niall to tell us about the Mimosa tree – a species that he always associates with his late father, Gus – in his mother’s garden in south Co. Dublin. It has been growing there for several years now, but this is the first spring that it has ever produced its gorgeous yellow ball-like flowers, filling the air with a delightful almond-like aroma.

All of this leads on to Richard holding forth about the olfactory abilities of dogs: apparently, although they fail to recognise themselves by sight in a mirror, they can recognise themselves by scent.

For more information about Ireland’s nocturnal pollinators and ways in which you can help them, visit https://pollinators.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AIPP-Nocturnal-Guide-2023-WEB.pdf.

Whose poo? Our panellists talk crap!

Flowers are not the only objects in the garden which are famous for their smell. Listener Leo Mc Garry, who lives in rural Co. Antrim, sent us this photo of an altogether less attractive object that he found close to his house.

Do you know what this poo is?
Do you know what this poo is?

That’s right, it is a somewhat substantial scat – or animal poo, if you prefer – beside which Leo helpfully placed a pound coin for scale. But what animal deposited it? On tonight’s programme, our esteemed panellists do their best to work it out.

For help in identifying animal droppings, visit https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife/how-identify/identify-poo.

National Tree Week 2026: how to get free trees

Sunday 8th March saw the start of National Tree Week 2026, which will run until Sunday 15th March. Organised by the Tree Council of Ireland and Coillte to promote tree-planting, biodiversity and environmental awareness, this year’s theme is "Growing a Greener Future Together".

Our very own Éanna Ní Lamhna is a two-time former President of the Tree Council of Ireland, so who better than her to tell us all about it on tonight’s programme? In particular, she updates us on the scheme underway to provide people with free bare-root tree saplings that they can plant themselves: please contact your local authority for details of how to get one, and check out the National Tree Week website for more information.

To learn more about National Tree Week 2026, visit https://www.nationaltreeweek.ie/.

Urban beekeeping

Bees may not spring immediately to mind when talking about trees, but they are of course very important in many different ways, even in densely populated urban areas. Keen to discover more, our Researcher Michele Browne paid a visit to the apiary of the Eblana Beekeeping Association in TU Dublin, Blanchardstown. There, she met Barry Moore, Garrett Dempsey and Thomas Clancy of the association and Rachel Freeman, Lecturer in Horticulture at the university, to make a special report for tonight’s programme.

For more information about the Eblana Beekeeping Association and its six-week beekeeping course, visit https://eblanabeekeeping.ie/.

Scoil Naomh Bodain National School gets into the National Tree Week spirit

As part of National Tree Week 2026, Culdaff Tidy Towns on Co. Donegal’s Inishowen Peninsula, in association with the Green School Committee of Scoil Naomh Bodain National School, planted a native Irish tree in the school grounds.

They sent us a lovely audio clip for tonight’s programme to celebrate the special occasion, featuring Maria Lynch of Culdaff Tidy Towns, 5th/6th Class Teacher Damian Ward and pupils Fergus McFeely and Oisin Lafferty.

For more information about Scoil Naomh Bodain National School, visit https://headstart.ie/school/19614Q.

For more information about Culdaff Tidy Towns, visit https://www.facebook.com/p/Culdaff-Tidy-Towns-100064836901904/.

Does Ireland need more National Parks?

As we celebrate National Tree Week 2026 and Nature Nights LIVE here on RTÉ Radio One, we must ask ourselves – what more can we do to protect the natural world? One man who has a key role to play in this, as well plenty of ambition to increase the amount of State land dedicated to nature, is Minister for State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity, Christopher O’Sullivan TD. In particular, he hopes to increase the number and extent of National Parks across Ireland.

On tonight’s programme, we are delighted to be joined by Minister O’Sullivan from Tanzania, where he is currently attending St. Patrick’s Day events, to find out more and to ask him how he and his Government colleagues plan to increase the amount of State land managed for wildlife.

For more information about Ireland’s National Parks, visit https://www.nationalparks.ie/.