0:00:29 > 0:00:32BIRDS TWEETING
0:00:44 > 0:00:48Early mornings, for me, are some of the best times.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51The dawn chorus comes and the reeds are full of birdsong
0:00:51 > 0:00:54and it's a wonderful, happy time.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04BIRDSONG
0:01:14 > 0:01:17It's a great time to be on the river.
0:01:17 > 0:01:18It's time to find food
0:01:18 > 0:01:22because you've been building up an appetite all night.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Time to find a mate.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28A time to declare your intentions.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31This is still my patch. This is my part of this river bank.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44It's a wonderful, peaceful time of day.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50And the light, if you're out there at sunrise,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53sometimes the light is so, so special.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18There aren't many really wild places left in this country
0:02:18 > 0:02:21but on the Shannon river, you still get that feeling
0:02:21 > 0:02:23no-one has ever been there before.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29I want to see this river in all its moods, in every season.
0:02:29 > 0:02:34Not just how it looks but how it sounds, how it feels.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38I want to find the hidden places and the hidden creatures living there.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43FROG CROAKS
0:03:03 > 0:03:06I'm going to have no fixed agenda. I just want to wander.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10Wander and explore.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22This river is a lifeline for countless creatures who
0:03:22 > 0:03:24shelter in and around its waters.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29I'm going to follow them and see where they take me.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Spring on the Shannon.
0:03:48 > 0:03:54The great awakening and there's such a sense of purpose in the air.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58The orange-tip butterfly is one of the first of the season
0:03:58 > 0:04:01and it's a real sign that spring is here.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Just a couple of months ago, all this was under water
0:04:07 > 0:04:11and then the water recedes and they sort of appear out of nowhere
0:04:11 > 0:04:15and colonise these watery meadows.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17They're the most perfect little creatures.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Their wings are so delicate and the colours are so rich.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25The two sexes are quite different.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28The female doesn't have those lovely orange tips.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32These must be some of the most beautiful,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36natural wild flower meadows left in the country.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Never seen herbicides or pesticides.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42It's just the way this rough grassland, farmland,
0:04:42 > 0:04:43used to look in Ireland.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49The landscape really hasn't changed but there is something missing.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53This place should be resounding to the cries of the wading birds.
0:04:53 > 0:04:59The lapwing and the curlew and the ring plover, the redshank
0:04:59 > 0:05:00but they've all gone.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07They've all disappeared within about the last 20 or 30, 40 years.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13Some people blame the mink for this emptiness.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Ground-nesting birds, their little chicks
0:05:15 > 0:05:20and the eggs have no protection against a predator like that.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24But, you know, nature tends to be more complex than that.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30The real reasons sometimes for the rise and fall of different creatures
0:05:30 > 0:05:32can be very hard to identify.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Our countryside has changed dramatically in the last few decades
0:05:41 > 0:05:45and I guess the river is just reflecting that change.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56Now, you can travel for mile upon mile on this river
0:05:56 > 0:05:58and never hear the sound of the curlew or
0:05:58 > 0:06:02the call of the lapwing or the whistle of the redshank.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05It's all gone.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13It's very, very few and far between.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15There are one or two places left on the river where
0:06:15 > 0:06:17they still nest successfully.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26Now, these low lying fields are known as the Callows.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31This is exactly what birds like curlew and redshank
0:06:31 > 0:06:33and lapwing need to breed.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36And that is the warning call of a redshank.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38BIRDS CALL
0:06:38 > 0:06:39He says I'm too close.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44And it's a call that just says, "Potential danger.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48"Await further instructions."
0:06:48 > 0:06:49Now, if I was to get closer,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53if I was to get out of the boat, you would hear a very different call
0:06:53 > 0:06:55and that other call is a real warning.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58It says, "Not only have we spotted danger, but we actually have
0:06:58 > 0:07:02"to react to it right now" and it's a particular call they make,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04sort of a lovely, flutey whistle.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08And that tells the chick to go straight for cover.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12They're relying completely on the parent's vigilance.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16People sometimes call them the guard dogs of the Callows.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20I have a friend who lives in a remote part of the west of Ireland.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24The only way to get to his house is on foot and he can always tell
0:07:24 > 0:07:27if there are visitors on the way because he'll hear that redshank
0:07:27 > 0:07:31calling and he'll know there'll be a knock on his door ten minutes later.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42I don't see this as a journey from source to sea.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46I see it very much as a wander around the entire system.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50I want to be on different parts of the river
0:07:50 > 0:07:52at different times of the year.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04I have lived in Ireland most of my life
0:08:04 > 0:08:08and I guess the Shannon is something I feel I've taken for granted.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13I mean, this is the longest river in Britain and Ireland and it divides
0:08:13 > 0:08:17our country in two from, sort of, the wilder west to the gentler east.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20You have this feeling of crossing the Shannon.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23You know you're going to another part of the country.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28It reminds you of how time passes and the lives that were once here
0:08:28 > 0:08:32and you have to sort of wonder, what will we leave behind?
0:08:41 > 0:08:43Will the monoliths of the Celtic Tiger
0:08:43 > 0:08:45look as romantic as the castle ruins?
0:08:50 > 0:08:51I don't think so.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52BATS SQUEAKING
0:09:55 > 0:09:59Bats are one of the most unappreciated of creatures.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05There are so many nasty stories associated with bats.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07When you hear these stories and see the movies,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11it's always about vampires and giving them a bad reputation
0:10:11 > 0:10:14and that somehow seems to get engraved in our consciousness.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21They are utterly harmless to human beings, absolutely harmless.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23And they are not just harmless to us.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25They really benefit, I mean, any creature that
0:10:25 > 0:10:29goes around scooping up midges in the thousands is a friend of mine
0:10:29 > 0:10:32because some nights on the river you would wish you had an entire
0:10:32 > 0:10:35swarm of bats accompanying you every place you went.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40We have about 30 mammals in Ireland and ten of them are bats.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44If only we could totally reverse the way that many of us see them
0:10:44 > 0:10:48and look at them as the incredibly well adapted sort of ancient
0:10:48 > 0:10:50creatures that they are.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02These are Daubenton's bats.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05They are known commonly as water bats and that's
0:11:05 > 0:11:10because they are perfectly adapted for life on the river.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14If you look really closely, you can see the odd one flitting by really
0:11:14 > 0:11:19fast and what they are doing is they are hunting over the water surface.
0:11:19 > 0:11:21They're looking for little insects
0:11:21 > 0:11:24which are caught on the top of the water.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28As they struggle to free themselves from that surface tension,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31they make little ripples and what the bats are doing now,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34they are echo locating and finding where those little
0:11:34 > 0:11:37ripples are coming from and they can sort of scoop up the insects,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39either with their tail or with their feet.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43They have extra big feet and they use those to just lift
0:11:43 > 0:11:46the struggling insect from the surface of the river.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50Flitting back and forth there.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00The bats themselves live, I guess, in a different world.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03They perceive the world in a different way to me.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06Although their eyesight is as good as mine,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09it's not much good to you when you're flying about in the dark.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11So, as they fly up and down the river,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14they have their mouths wide open and they are effectively
0:12:14 > 0:12:19sort of screaming at the water and waiting for that echo to come back
0:12:19 > 0:12:23and that's how they discern their environment.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25That's how they see where they are going.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30They like to hunt on the calm stretches of the river
0:12:30 > 0:12:32because if the surface is too disturbed,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35they wouldn't be able to locate their prey.
0:12:37 > 0:12:42They're incredible aerial acrobats, constantly scanning the surface.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Incredible creatures.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54Beautiful creatures.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29This weather is really tough on the creatures that live off the river
0:13:29 > 0:13:33and this wind has been continuously blowing for over a month.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38Not quite what I had in my mind's eye when I set out on this journey.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41I imagined those lovely, fine,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44April evenings as the days start to lengthen.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Just listening to the birds singing, maybe sitting by a little camp fire
0:13:47 > 0:13:51but for the last four or five weeks I've just been huddled down like
0:13:51 > 0:13:56all the other creatures, waiting for this spell of weather to pass on.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02This year this weather came at just the wrong time.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04There should be great hatches of insects
0:14:04 > 0:14:08and not just for the birds but for the fish and everything, too.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12You know, everything is feeding voraciously at this time of year.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16For nesting birds it's not just that the parents might not be able
0:14:16 > 0:14:19to supply their chicks with enough food,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22but the chicks get actively hammered by the wind and the rain.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31But then it will be amazing if the conditions do pass and
0:14:31 > 0:14:34the first sunny morning, the whole place will just come alive again.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09There's nothing like travelling on a river.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13There's just that feeling of sort of peace and tranquillity.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15You can kind of drift in and out of animals' lives
0:16:15 > 0:16:17and they don't even know you've been there.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19You don't disturb them.
0:16:31 > 0:16:32When I'm paddling my canoe,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35I'm just wondering what's happening beneath me.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40That whole cycle of life, things meeting and mating
0:16:40 > 0:16:43and breeding and things killing each other, that's all
0:16:43 > 0:16:47happening in the water but it's something that's hidden to us.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55There's one fish that's found throughout this river system,
0:16:55 > 0:17:01seldom seen, but at this time of year their presence becomes obvious
0:17:01 > 0:17:03and that's because it's mating time.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10People call them the barracuda of the Shannon.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13It's very much the creature that, if you were a fish,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15you would want to avoid.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21They're superbly adapted for their environment.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25They can move very, very fast if they have to.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Any fish that comes within striking range has no chance whatsoever.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35Some people look at predators as being cruel
0:17:35 > 0:17:38and this sort of thing but that's really not the case.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42If you're an animal that's been injured in nature,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44be you a deer in a forest,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47if you've got a tiger around, the tiger will kill an injured deer.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50If it breaks a leg, instead of dying slowly, a tiger will spot it
0:17:50 > 0:17:54and kill it and the pike are sitting there at the bottom of the lake,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56they're just not randomly chasing any fish.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59They're looking for the ones which are moving a bit slowly,
0:17:59 > 0:18:04or aren't doing so well, so they are sort of like an anaesthetic.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08They put people out of their misery. They put fish out of their misery.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Right now, food is the last thing on their mind.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20They're just thinking about making babies.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23What the females are actually doing is,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26they're laying their eggs on those little bits of reeds and they will
0:18:26 > 0:18:30lay thousands of eggs, but they'll only last there for a few hours.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32And then they'll fall onto the gravel beds so you
0:18:32 > 0:18:35sort of wonder, why do they lay them on the reeds in the first place?
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Maybe it's because the eggs are more likely to be fertilised
0:18:38 > 0:18:42in mid-water. Must be something like that.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53The males are just hugging the females, waiting for her to decide
0:18:53 > 0:18:56to spawn and they're just going to hang with her as close as they can
0:18:56 > 0:19:01because they'll get a very limited opportunity to become daddies.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20When that opportunity arises, when she's ready to spawn,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23that's what they've been waiting for and it's that moment they've got
0:19:23 > 0:19:26to be right in there and that's what that splashing is all about.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18People are always talking about the climate and changing
0:20:18 > 0:20:20and is it changing and that sort of thing.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22The natural world doesn't lie.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30You can see an increase in temperature.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Things are moving north and west all the time
0:20:34 > 0:20:37because they are able to tolerate living in those sort of
0:20:37 > 0:20:40warmer conditions that are now on offer there.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44BIRDS LOUDLY CHIRPING
0:20:46 > 0:20:49So, you get this gradual influx in species
0:20:49 > 0:20:51and the Shannon is going to...
0:20:51 > 0:20:53You know, things are going to start being able to live here
0:20:53 > 0:20:55that couldn't live here before.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22I remember the first time I saw egrets, it was in the south of Spain
0:21:22 > 0:21:25and I thought they were the most exotic thing I had ever seen.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29I was walking up in the hills and I came over by this little lake
0:21:29 > 0:21:33and there were these beautiful, pure white birds wading around in
0:21:33 > 0:21:37the shallows and I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing and little
0:21:37 > 0:21:41did I know that within, I suppose, 20 years, that those birds would
0:21:41 > 0:21:44have made it to Ireland and they are breeding alongside our herons.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46That's something I never thought I'd see.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54There's something about herons too, when you see them hunched up,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58they can look a little bit angry and a little bit fed up with life.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01The egrets are like the new, beautiful cousins that have
0:22:01 > 0:22:04just come along and taken their limelight or something.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06They seem to put up with them
0:22:06 > 0:22:09but the egrets, I guess, are just so much more elegant.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Everything seems very calm.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21It's as if they've been living together all their lives.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25The two species seem to sort of accept each other's presence.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Even though they must be in competition for feeding sites
0:22:28 > 0:22:30and nesting sites.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35My guess is there are so many fish in the river
0:22:35 > 0:22:37that there's no big competition.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43A CACOPHONY OF BIRD SOUNDS
0:22:46 > 0:22:47Great sounds.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55One of the parents has just come in and they're all just going for it.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59It's a real survival of the fittest.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02All the chicks have to be on their feet, as it were,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and scrambling for food.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07It's known as scramble competition.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11You've got to make your presence known to your parents so that you'll
0:23:11 > 0:23:15be fed because if the parent doesn't spot you and you start missing
0:23:15 > 0:23:20out on your meals, you'll end up getting weak and not making it.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37My fear is that little guy has no chance, no future.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45It's sad.
0:23:47 > 0:23:48Nature can be tough.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56MUSIC: Maith Dhom by Kila
0:26:15 > 0:26:18We live in a country that's undergoing rapid change,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21in the last 30, 40, 50 years.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24The landscape has changed fundamentally
0:26:24 > 0:26:26and that's always happened a certain amount,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29it's just the speed of change has been dramatic.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33Animals aren't good at adapting to fast change like that.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05BIRD CHIRPS
0:27:07 > 0:27:10That's a sound now that's really rare in these parts.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12That's a corncrake.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17I remember the days when they were so common,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20they were found in pretty much every field in Ireland.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23I used to listen to them just a few miles from Dublin city centre
0:27:23 > 0:27:25when I was growing up.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29But now they've really disappeared from so much of the country.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34When you cut silage, you cut it early in the season so when you have
0:27:34 > 0:27:39a bird like the corncrake that nests in long grass, it's just gotten
0:27:39 > 0:27:43to the stage of finding a mate and the female is sitting on her nest,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47sitting on her eggs, and that's when the grass cutters arrive.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49So, they don't have time to raise their young.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52So, year on year, corncrakes have just disappeared all over
0:27:52 > 0:27:55the country and it happened very quickly.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58And here on the Shannon, they've been making a bit of a stand
0:27:58 > 0:28:01down on the Shannon Callows, probably because that land
0:28:01 > 0:28:06was used a little less intensively than other parts of the country.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10But unfortunately they've done really badly the last few years and
0:28:10 > 0:28:15I've heard this year that there's actually just one male left calling.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18THE BIRD CALLS
0:28:19 > 0:28:24He's calling to establish a territory
0:28:24 > 0:28:28but to let a female know that he's about, because if you're a corncrake
0:28:28 > 0:28:31wandering around in the deep grass, you can't find each other,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35so it's up to him to call in the female and if there's a receptive
0:28:35 > 0:28:39female in the area, she should come and have a look at him but it seems
0:28:39 > 0:28:45very likely, very possible, that there's no-one out there for him.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52When I go to sleep tonight, there's a good chance when I wake up
0:28:52 > 0:28:56in the morning, that little guy is still going to be calling
0:28:56 > 0:29:02because the only thing on his mind right now is finding a mate.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05That's why he has flown here all the way from Africa.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08He doesn't know that there aren't any other corncrakes here.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12He doesn't know that there aren't any females.
0:29:12 > 0:29:13Poor little guy out there now.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20He'll be calling all night.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25All day too, probably, if he doesn't have any luck.
0:29:38 > 0:29:41The Shannon is going to flow through this area now
0:29:41 > 0:29:44and not hear that call again.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45It's like being in another world.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52Very peaceful, just the sounds of the reeds themselves
0:30:52 > 0:30:54blowing gently in the wind.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59But all this activity that's going on, that's unseen.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03All the birds building their little platform floating nests.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06Sitting on eggs. Chicks hatching.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08That's all going on now all around here
0:31:08 > 0:31:12and just by listening to the sounds you can tell that's what's going on.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18None of the residents in here can see each other either.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23That's why they're constantly calling.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Letting each other know where they are.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29Contact calling. It's lovely to hear.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37There's always one animal every year that sort of somehow
0:31:37 > 0:31:41gets into your mind, that starts to fascinate you.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43And for me, it's been the great crested grebe.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54The eggs hatch on different days
0:31:54 > 0:31:57because as soon as the first egg is laid,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59the female starts incubating it.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07Both parents are very diligent.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09They have these amazing parental instincts.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36The little grebe chicks must be some of the cutest chicks on the river.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39They have beautiful little striped patterns,
0:32:39 > 0:32:41so different looking than their parents.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Grebe parents will actually pluck their own feathers
0:32:46 > 0:32:48and feed them to the chicks.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53It's a remarkable thing to see.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05Beautiful birds.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44INSECTS HUM SOFTLY
0:33:48 > 0:33:51It's amazing how the whole world seems to have gone silent now.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55It's every year I notice around the 15th July or so, it's as if
0:33:55 > 0:33:59someone had just flicked a switch. The Shannon is no different.
0:33:59 > 0:34:04All the birds just stop making noise and that's because the breeding
0:34:04 > 0:34:06season is over and they don't have to sing any more.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11They don't any longer have to defend breeding territories.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14They don't have to attract females.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18They have no reason to sing and that's why they've stopped.
0:34:18 > 0:34:21It really seems to happen over a matter of a week or so.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25It suddenly just goes quiet.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27Absolutely quiet.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26The greatest angler on the river has got to be the kingfisher.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29They're just master fishermen and they've got to be because
0:35:29 > 0:35:33they can pretty much eat their own body weight in food every day.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39Most of the time you just see a flash of blue.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43But to really see how beautiful they are, you've got to slow them down.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46I'm starting to see subtle changes in colour on the river banks.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49Autumn isn't far away.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46Great to see the red squirrels around.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50The Shannon, which formed a barrier to people long ago, has been really
0:38:50 > 0:38:54important for the red squirrel in Ireland because when someone
0:38:54 > 0:38:58decided in their wisdom to bring the greys here, the greys never actually
0:38:58 > 0:39:04managed to cross the Shannon and so that's why the reds are still here.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06The poor little blighters, they just can't compete.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09It's not that the greys are physically fighting with them,
0:39:09 > 0:39:11it's just that they find the food quicker
0:39:11 > 0:39:14and they'll take food that's still sort of raw,
0:39:14 > 0:39:19raw nuts and that sort of thing, and these little guys just can't compete
0:39:19 > 0:39:23so the females don't put on enough weight and so they don't breed.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27In saying that, earlier I found some pine marten scat.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30There's some sort of evidence that maybe
0:39:30 > 0:39:35they are able to catch grey squirrels easier than reds.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39Reds are a little more agile, they can get to the outer branches
0:39:39 > 0:39:42of the trees, maybe where the pine martens can't get to them.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46It may be that, with the rise of the pine marten again,
0:39:46 > 0:39:50greys are going to be disadvantaged and the reds might make a comeback.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54I mean, that would be great if that happened and it just might.
0:41:19 > 0:41:21SWANS CALL AND HONK
0:41:25 > 0:41:28For anyone who spends time on the water,
0:41:28 > 0:41:33they know that sound, that's just the sound of the Shannon in winter.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39That wonderful, haunting sort of call.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43The sounds of the whoopers arriving. The end of the autumn and beginning
0:41:43 > 0:41:47of winter is when they tend to arrive and they've been chased
0:41:47 > 0:41:50from their northern breeding grounds by the cold weather up there.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54They fly south to avoid it, they come to the Shannon because there's
0:41:54 > 0:41:58a great big larder here to keep them going for the winter months.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04You only have to watch swans taking off to see that flight
0:42:04 > 0:42:06doesn't really come all that naturally to them.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09They really have to push those bodies up into the air.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15You'd think that they'd be a bird that maybe couldn't fly all that far
0:42:15 > 0:42:18but they can fly all the way from Iceland to here nonstop.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36Once you make a decision to undertake that flight,
0:42:36 > 0:42:40there's no turning back because you've nothing to turn back to.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42So, no matter what obstacle they hit,
0:42:42 > 0:42:45or what weather they hit, they just have to keep going.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10They must be very, very pleased
0:43:10 > 0:43:13when they see the ribbon of the Shannon river from the air.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22Maybe they're calling because they're just happy to be here.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12They must use up a huge amount of energy on that flight,
0:44:12 > 0:44:16but when they get here, they're as graceful as when they took off.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19You'd swear that they've just come from down the road.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22They're just looking absolutely perfect and pristine.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28Some journey to undertake.
0:44:30 > 0:44:31But one thing's for sure -
0:44:31 > 0:44:34when they arrive here, there's loads of food.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37They're vegetarians, they come here to feed on the grass.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39It's what they like to eat
0:44:39 > 0:44:41and there's no shortage of grass in Ireland.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49We tend to spend so much of our lives indoors now and in cars.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52We are maybe losing touch with those sort of seasonal markers
0:45:52 > 0:45:56which give you a sense of the time of year and where you are.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02You know, our houses are probably as warm in winter now as they
0:46:02 > 0:46:06are in summer and we eat any kind of food we want at any time of year.
0:46:06 > 0:46:13Those sort of traditional markers of the seasons are sort of disappearing
0:46:13 > 0:46:17but in the natural world, of course, they're very much still there.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21They're still driven by the climate, angle of the sun, day length,
0:46:21 > 0:46:23all those things.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26That wonderful sense of a year as something cyclical.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47This is a rare cold snap and it won't last long.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51As soon as the temperatures rise, things will start moving again.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25FROGS CROAK
0:48:27 > 0:48:29That's a great sound.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34Guess to lots of people, birdsong is the first sign of spring
0:48:34 > 0:48:38but for me it's the croaking of the frog.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40Breeding season has begun.
0:48:42 > 0:48:47Male frogs, lots of them, calling to lure in the females.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57Males await the arrival of the next female.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01This is an annual opportunity and they want to make the most of it.
0:49:01 > 0:49:04Some of these little males have spent
0:49:04 > 0:49:08the winter at the bottom of the pond, hibernating there.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11It means that they're in position, they're in the breeding pond
0:49:11 > 0:49:14when the females arrive in the springtime.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19Females can be scattered out over this entire area.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21Something wakes them up, the same sort of cues,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25I guess, that wake up the males wake up the females.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28They've been wintering under stone walls or under bits of boulder
0:49:28 > 0:49:32or under logs, and some of these females have to make this
0:49:32 > 0:49:36arduous journey across the land, laden with eggs.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43Some sort of instinct drives them back toward these breeding ponds
0:49:43 > 0:49:46and then it's the calls of the male that lure them in.
0:50:42 > 0:50:43But the poor females.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47You've got to... You've got to feel sorry for them
0:50:47 > 0:50:50because all these males have only one thing on their mind right now.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58She's on the edge of the pond and she's thinking, "Will I, won't I?"
0:50:58 > 0:51:03And when she makes that final jump in, all hell breaks loose.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33And these little males, what they're trying to do is,
0:51:33 > 0:51:35they're trying to grab the female.
0:51:35 > 0:51:37They have special pads on their little hands
0:51:37 > 0:51:41and what they're trying to do is get into the right position.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46They will wrestle each other and she is stuck in the middle.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14Once they're really tight on there and in the right position,
0:52:14 > 0:52:16they will hang on for dear life
0:52:16 > 0:52:19and for the next few days they will not leave her.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24Life for a female frog is not very easy.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30The other males sort of know and they give up.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32"Right, she's taken."
0:52:32 > 0:52:35And then they wait for the next one to arrive.
0:52:36 > 0:52:38Love frogs.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Every evening.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20Every evening this happens.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29Small flocks of little starlings come together to form bigger flocks.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44It's just remarkable how so many birds come from the entire
0:53:44 > 0:53:48surrounding countryside and all make their way back
0:53:48 > 0:53:50to this one little spot.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00And those flocks start to wheel
0:54:00 > 0:54:04just a few minutes before they actually hit the reed beds,
0:54:04 > 0:54:07there's just those extraordinary abstract patterns.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10From a distance they could be, I don't know, a swarm of locusts
0:54:10 > 0:54:14or a swarm of bees, it's very hard to get a sense of scale.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53In many ways this is the greatest natural spectacle in Ireland.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58It's just some sight,
0:54:58 > 0:55:00and the sounds,
0:55:00 > 0:55:02the sounds of myriads of beating wings.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27It's better not to analyse things like this too much.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31Sometimes you just want to sit back and enjoy.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45Amazing sight. Just amazing.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14My journey is coming to an end now and I've learned
0:57:14 > 0:57:17so much along the way.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19I've experienced this river in every season.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24I've gotten to know its moods, gotten to know its creatures.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28Somehow it's sort of gotten into me, it feels like it's a part of me now.
0:57:28 > 0:57:33It's no longer A river. It's kind of MY river.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42But it's our river.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46Its future health and wellbeing is up to us.