Panel: Richard Collins & Niall Hatch
Reports: Éanna Ní Lamhna & Jim Wilson
All this week, from Monday to Friday, at 22:00 Derek Mooney and his Mooney Goes Wild team of experts have been 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 have been sharing updates from events happening around the country and highlight the trees we often overlook, with 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 have also been hearing 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:
- By email to naturenights@rte.ie
- By WhatsApp to 087 680-6206
- By text message to 51551
The natural world never fails to impress and inspire
The fourth programme in our 2026 Nature Nights LIVE series, which aired on Thursday 12th March, was a very special one, packed to the brim with fascinating facts about the natural world. Highlights included:
- Dr. Matthew Jebb enthralling us with the tale of the Malagasy moth with a 12-inch tongue that Charles Darwin, based on his understanding of natural selection, predicted had to exist, a full 50 years before anyone actually discovered it and proved him right.
- Richard Collins and Éanna Ní Lamhna impressing upon us the importance of trees to Ireland, both ecologically and culturally; the very term "Gael", used for millennia to describe the inhabitants of this island, is an old Welsh word meaning "woodland-dweller".
- Eric Dempsey engaging us with his passion for the "in-between time", the term he deployed to describe this stage of spring: for nature-lovers, a time of potential and expectation.
To listen back to last night's programme, visit https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/nature-nights/2026/0312/1563161-nature-nights-thursday-march-12th-2026/.
To listen back to Wednesday night’s programme, visit https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/nature-nights/2026/0311/1562962-nature-nights-wednesday-march-11th-2026/
To listen back to Tuesday 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/
Looking back on a week steeped in nature
Tonight marks the final night of our weeklong series of Nature Nights LIVE programmes for 2026, and what a week it has been. We kick off festivities tonight by reminiscing about a week where nature was able to shine on the national airways.
A massive "thank you" is due to all of the team that made the past week of programmes so special, and in particular to our Researcher Michèle Browne and our Broadcast Assistant Sinéad Renshaw, both of whom really went above and beyond for us and for you, our listeners.
You can listen back to all five of our Nature Nights LIVE 2026 programmes at https://www.rte.ie/mooney
An un-frog-gettable experience!
Thank you to each and every one of you who contacted the programme over the past week with your queries, observations, photos and videos. One of our favourites was a video that was emailed to us by Geraldine Byrne, who wrote:
"Hi Derek and team, I really enjoy your programme in the evenings. Your style of imparting information and knowledge is always interesting. Thought you might like to see this video of the many frogs in a pond at my son Paul's and Rachel's home in Ballymoney, Co. Wexford. At one stage, there were at least twelve frogs in the pond - then they were gone in a few days!! Where did they go?? The beginning of the video sets the atmosphere!! As the video progresses, the combined sound of the frogs and birds is magical. Every day, I take time out to watch this video, it is almost meditative. Hope you enjoy the video as much as Paul enjoyed making it".
It really is a mesmerising video!
Fantastic, isn’t it? What’s more, Paul Gallagher joins us on tonight’s programme to tell us more about his frenzied frogs, which are truly amazing creatures. Did you know, for example, that a single female will lay up to 4,000 eggs each breeding season, or that the skin of frogs is toxic to mammals? There is certainly more to these amphibians than might first meet the eye.
For more information about Common Frogs in Ireland, visit https://iwt.ie/species-in-focus-common-frog/.
The Common Frog Rana temporaria
If all that has left you hungry for even more information about Ireland's most common and widespread amphibian, we’ve got you covered. At 12 noon on St. Patrick’s Day, 17th March, we will be bringing you a special documentary all about the Common Frog. Part of the Mooney Goes Wild team’s ongoing Nature on One series of documentaries that are broadcast on public holidays, it is presented by Terry Flanagan and takes a deep dive into the biology, behaviour and conservation of these astonishing creatures.
To listen back to our extensive archive of previous Nature on One documentaries, visit https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/nature-on-one/.
National Tree Week 2026: Éanna takes a trip to Tipp
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".
It also happens to be one of the most hectic weeks of the year for our own Éanna Ní Lamhna, whose services as a speaker are in great demand. Éanna gave one of her famous tree talks this very night to a lucky audience of 120 people at the Source Arts Centre in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, from where she joins us.
As she tells us, the themes of her presentation centred around the concept of rewilding and the dos and don’ts of planting trees. As usual, she fielded plenty of informed questions from the attendees, and we can think of no better woman to answer them.
To learn more about National Tree Week 2026 and to find details of events taking place in your area, visit https://www.nationaltreeweek.ie/.
Getting up close and personal with the mighty Mother Oak Tree of Muskerry
On Sunday 15th March, as part of their National Tree week celebrations, Macroom & District Environmental Group will hold a free guided walk through Macroom Castle Demesne in Co. Cork to meet one of the most iconic veteran trees in Ireland, the Muskerry Oak, also known as the McCarthy Oak, which they describe as "a huge girth champion".
It certainly piqued our interest, so we dispatched our man in Cork, Jim Wilson, to Macroom Castle to see the oak for himself and to bring us his reactions to it on tonight's programme. While there, he met with heritage specialist Ted Cook and ecologist Laura McCarthy, who filled him in on the tree’s long and storied history, its immense age and its mighty dimensions.
Richard and Niall also contribute some of their own facts about some of our most iconic native trees; the oak may have been considered the most sacred of the lot, but the yew, the ash and the holly have a great deal going for them too.
For more information about the Macroom & District Environmental Group's free Muskerry Oak walk, click this post:
A reflection on the natural world by Don Conroy
A great many people in Ireland – including Derek Mooney himself – were first introduced to the joys of nature by artist, naturalist and author Don Conroy. A mainstay of children's television for many years, perhaps most memorably alongside Zig, Zag and Dustin on The Den, he inspired so many of us to take an interest in the wildlife around us. He is also the reason that an entire generation of people who grew up in Ireland can draw an owl blindfolded!
The natural world has continued to captivate and fascinate Don throughout his life, and he has long valued its ability to allow us to slow down and take time to reflect. We are delighted that he has recorded a special reflection of his own for tonight’s programme, which it is our great pleasure to share with you.
For more information about Don Conroy and his wildlife art, visit https://donconroy.com/.
Where there’s a quill, there’s a way: could you be a Hedgehog Helper?
The hedgehog is one of Ireland’s best-loved and most endearing nocturnal mammals, but we know surprisingly little about them. Sadly, the majority of our encounters with them are sightings of dead individuals on our roads, and many people have never seen one alive and well.
We know that hedgehog numbers across Europe, including on our neighbouring island of Britain, are in steep decline, down by as much as 33%. Habitat loss, road deaths and pesticides are some of the reasons for this, but we still do not have baseline data about their distribution and status in Ireland.
Elaine O’Riordan is a researcher in the School of Natural Sciences at NUI Galway, and over a number of years she has been working on an Irish Hedgehog Survey with the National Biodiversity Data Centre. She joins us on tonight’s programme to tell us about the new group, Hedgehog Conservation Ireland, that she and other concerned conservationists have set up, and also how you can contribute your own hedgehog records to the national survey and make your garden more hedgehog-friendly.
For more information about Hedgehog Conservation Ireland, visit https://www.hedgehogsireland.com/.
For more information about the Irish Hedgehog Survey and to contribute your own records, visit https://biodiversityireland.ie/surveys/irish-hedgehog-survey/.
Blossoms and Bullfinches
Before we wrap up Nature Nights LIVE for another year, we have time for just one more listener query. Ger Colman was delighted to see a pair of Bullfinches recently and got in touch to ask us whether these gorgeous, colourful birds are common in Ireland?
As Niall tells us, according to BirdWatch Ireland’s survey data, Bullfinches are doing well and are common and widespread across the whole country. They are quieter and more retiring than our other finches, however, and are also less likely to visit garden bird tables and feeders, so they often slip below the radar and go unnoticed.
This is the best time of year to spot them, however, as each spring they are drawn to their favourite food of all: the delicate blossoms of cherry and plum trees. Next time you see a Prunus tree in bloom, watch carefully for any petals that flutter down, snow-like, to the ground. That is often the best indication that a Bullfinch – or, more likely, two, as they generally remain in pairs all year round – is enjoying a feast overhead.
For more information about Bullfinches, visit https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/bullfinch/.