0:00:11 > 0:00:15The west coast of Ireland for millennia was really, I guess,
0:00:15 > 0:00:16the edge of the known world.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25Our ancestors had no idea what lay beyond the horizon.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29The vast Atlantic was a place of complete mystery.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40My name is Colin Stafford-Johnson.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44I've spent 30 years working as a wildlife cameraman around the world
0:00:44 > 0:00:48and I've seen some of the most beautiful places on Earth,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52but somehow I'm always drawn back to the west coast of Ireland.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59This is where I now call home.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Once you've lived by the sea for part of your life,
0:01:02 > 0:01:03it's very hard to leave it behind.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13I've always wanted to travel the length of Ireland's Atlantic coast,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16seeking out its secret places and wild creatures.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25And if my journey has any direction, I guess it's roughly north.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36I began on the Skellig rocks off southwest Ireland before heading
0:01:36 > 0:01:39north to reach Clew Bay, halfway up the west coast.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47From here, I'll be exploring Galway and my homeland of Mayo,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50before heading north for the wild country of Donegal
0:01:50 > 0:01:52and my journey's end on the north coast.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00And I think it's going to change my view
0:02:00 > 0:02:02of the island that I've lived on for much of my life.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35It's been a really tough winter this year.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38On the west coast of Ireland,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41you can get constant storms and, particularly the last two years,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46they have become more prolonged and more frequent.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10The west coast of Ireland is incredibly exposed to the Atlantic.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Here you have this enormous ocean, and in winter,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15when it's really gathered power,
0:03:15 > 0:03:19it unleashes its power against the coastline.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26The first thing that it hits in Europe is the west coast of Ireland.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30It's a wild coast,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34because the Atlantic always almost seems permanently upset.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Sometimes, in the middle of winter,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48you feel as if the spring is never going to come.
0:03:49 > 0:03:50BIRD CALLS
0:03:54 > 0:03:55BIRD CALLS
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Those calls are really the soundscape
0:04:01 > 0:04:04of the west of Ireland in winter.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11At this time of year in County Mayo and these valleys,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13there is almost total silence.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19The whoopers are the only birds breaking that silence.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26No wonder whoopers featured so much in Irish legends and mythology,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29because they must have been really important
0:04:29 > 0:04:31to the people who lived here.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35They must have given them a great sense of season and time of year.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40And they must have wondered where on earth they went to.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55All Ireland's whooper swans actually nest in Iceland.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03They just come here to escape the freezing temperatures up there.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14Once they decide to leave Iceland, there is no going back.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19All they're going to see is open ocean.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24They've got to be very careful
0:05:24 > 0:05:27that they've got their weather forecast right.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Anything kicks up along that journey, they won't make it.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35There are over 1,000km of ocean.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43For those chicks that have sort of been blindly following
0:05:43 > 0:05:47their parents, they must have been thinking, "What is going on?
0:05:47 > 0:05:49"Are we ever going to get there?"
0:05:58 > 0:06:02The west coast of Ireland is the first thing that they will see.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Sometimes, you just hear them way, way, way in the distance.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15WHOOPERS HONK
0:06:15 > 0:06:19The sound of whoopers flying overhead
0:06:19 > 0:06:21just makes you feel good.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37They always strike me as happy birds.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44And when they land in a sort of cacophony of honking and squawking,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47they really bring life to a valley such as this.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52WHOOPER SQUAWKS
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Ireland is really their home away from home.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03It's hard to sort of see Ireland as being a sort of
0:07:03 > 0:07:05winter sunshine break
0:07:05 > 0:07:09for anybody, but for whoopers, this has everything they need.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Lots of fuel to keep them going through the winter,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19and they're constantly foraging.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25It won't be long before the whoopers leave, but then,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28just at that time, is when all the birds here start
0:07:28 > 0:07:30proclaiming their territories.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35And these valleys will be noisy with birdsong once again.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53This is the bay I call home now.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Moving around the west coast of Ireland,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01and I came to Clew Bay on an evening such as this...
0:08:03 > 0:08:06..and I just felt that this would be a good place to settle,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09and because I could explore both up and down the coast from here.
0:08:11 > 0:08:12And now that's just what I'm doing.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19If you have a look at a map of Ireland and you sort of look midway
0:08:19 > 0:08:22down the west coast, you see a bay that looks like someone's
0:08:22 > 0:08:23taken a bite out of it.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28People say there's an island for every of the year.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Whoever said that wasn't very good at counting islands, but there's
0:08:31 > 0:08:33quite a few of them!
0:08:33 > 0:08:35Croagh Patrick dominating the bay.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40That mountain looks different on every day of the year.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44I'm very glad I made this my home,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46and it's very much halfway on my journey.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11If I was to pick one habitat I couldn't live without,
0:09:11 > 0:09:12I think it would be woodlands.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17And woodlands in spring, what could get better than this?
0:09:17 > 0:09:19BIRDSONG
0:09:19 > 0:09:23I spent a lot of time travelling around the world
0:09:23 > 0:09:25and one thing I really missed
0:09:25 > 0:09:28from Ireland was sort of the dawn chorus of birdsong
0:09:28 > 0:09:29in an Irish woodland.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31BIRDSONG
0:09:35 > 0:09:39There is aggression in the air, but it doesn't sound like it at all.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41It sounds wonderful.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51A woodland doesn't have to be big to feel like a woodland.
0:09:51 > 0:09:52When you walk into one,
0:09:52 > 0:09:54it's not long before you sort of disappear
0:09:54 > 0:09:56and really enter another world,
0:09:56 > 0:10:00and all the little birds that you'd expect to find in a bigger
0:10:00 > 0:10:01woodland are right there.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Just the smell and the sights, and every time you come into the woods
0:10:07 > 0:10:09at this time of year, they change.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13You know, you come one week and things are about to burst
0:10:13 > 0:10:16into flower, and then the next week, you come,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19and there's a carpet of bluebells or something stretching off
0:10:19 > 0:10:21into the distance.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24Just lovely.
0:10:31 > 0:10:32But this is a great little wood.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34You wouldn't really know that you were by the sea.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40So few woodlands along the coast of Ireland these days.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44We've almost lost our connection with woodlands.
0:10:47 > 0:10:48It's a pity.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51RAIN PATTERS
0:11:12 > 0:11:14There is one animal I always wanted to see,
0:11:14 > 0:11:16and people said it was in Ireland.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21I've spent lots of time looking for it.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27I remember the very first time I saw one.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30I was walking through a little woodland...
0:11:32 > 0:11:35..and I heard alarm calls.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40You know that there is a predator on the move.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42It's normally a fox.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48Lo and behold, it was a pine marten.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Beautiful looking creature.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Shiny, with its lovely creamy chest.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05That was the sort of mythical creature from my childhood.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07It was in all the books, you know,
0:12:07 > 0:12:11that told you that pine martens are present in Ireland,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13but they were incredibly rare.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17But now they're making a really good comeback.
0:12:17 > 0:12:18They're spreading out across Ireland.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43They're very agile hunters.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48They're almost as fast moving up the trees as they are on the ground.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03Pretty adaptable, resourceful creatures.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07It's great to have them back.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Days like these really stick out like rare jewels.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33It's easy to forget how unstable the Atlantic is so much of the time.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Most of our interactions with the sea are very much on the surface.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46So we rarely notice what's going on underneath.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54But at this time of year, all sorts of creatures can turn up.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00You never know where they're going to crop up next.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06I think there are lots of them here today.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10But if they're just ten feet below the surface,
0:14:10 > 0:14:11you'd never know that they were here.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22The warming waters bring in one of the most beautiful fish in the sea.
0:14:28 > 0:14:29The blue shark.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37They are found in every ocean in the world.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47Sometimes you'll get them following each other...
0:14:48 > 0:14:49..sort of nose to tail.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57It seems that our blues follow the Gulf Stream
0:14:57 > 0:15:00on a great tour of the Atlantic Ocean.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Millions of years of evolution
0:15:05 > 0:15:08have honed this perfect travelling machine.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17They appear almost like ghosts out of the very depths.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25It's a very natural sort of boat and they don't seem to mind at all.
0:15:25 > 0:15:26There's no engine noises.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30Creatures don't seem to be scared of curraghs.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43But they'll come and they'll go, for the most part unseen.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50Sometimes, we just get to glimpse them, briefly.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Just for a few weeks every summer.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Halfway up the west coast,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16there's a string of enchanting islands that lie off County Galway.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20They give great shelter around here.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29It's a wonderful quiet, isolated part of Ireland.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Places like this are just good for the soul.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45Just the distant sort of roar of the sea.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48And the birds.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54You tend to instantly sort of relax.
0:17:10 > 0:17:11BIRDS CALL
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Winged plover alarm call.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Lots of them on the island at this time of year.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29Keeping an eye on me.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31They don't want me being here at all.
0:17:31 > 0:17:32They'd prefer if I keep moving.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38They love sort of open, rocky, stony patches like this.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40This is where they build their little nest,
0:17:40 > 0:17:41lay their eggs on the ground.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Good place to hide your eggs.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56There's always something magical for me about finding a bird's nest.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02I remember, as a kid, finding them
0:18:02 > 0:18:05and it was just like finding treasure.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11There's something about their construction
0:18:11 > 0:18:15and the fact that they're so sort of delicate and vulnerable.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Sort of really got to appreciate the fact that you were...
0:18:22 > 0:18:25..finding something that you weren't supposed to see.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35There seems to be almost a truce at this time of year.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38The gulls are sitting all around here.
0:18:38 > 0:18:39They're nesting here, too.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41I think they're so involved with their own nests,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45they're not too bothered about the plovers at the moment, but once
0:18:45 > 0:18:50the little chicks start moving around, they are very vulnerable.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55They have the most adorable little chicks, lovely little things.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14BIRD CRIES
0:19:16 > 0:19:19They know they're going to lose several of them.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27They have all sorts of little behaviours.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30When they get upset, first of all, they whistle.
0:19:32 > 0:19:33As soon as the sentry whistles,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36its mate will sort of creep away from the nest.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40It keeps its head down and sort of moves in a zigzag pattern,
0:19:40 > 0:19:41away from the nest.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05A predator moving along, they think it's an injured bird,
0:20:05 > 0:20:06they follow it.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09And little do they know that they're being led away from the nest.
0:20:11 > 0:20:12Very clever.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22Little did we realise, I guess,
0:20:22 > 0:20:24that when these islands were being abandoned,
0:20:24 > 0:20:26how important that they would become for wildlife.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32One big empty coastline,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35no creatures being disturbed as far as the eye can see.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41Wouldn't it be nice if the world was ever thus?
0:20:49 > 0:20:53So many of the creatures I encounter are really of no fixed abode.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00But it's around about this time of year when there is an animal that
0:21:00 > 0:21:01returns to our shores.
0:21:03 > 0:21:04These are
0:21:04 > 0:21:09Irish creatures that have spent the last year or more of their lives
0:21:09 > 0:21:10travelling the ocean.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16But now, they're picking up the scent of home once again.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27And they've been on a pretty extraordinary journey.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37For me, there's something very reassuring
0:21:37 > 0:21:39about the return of the salmon.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45The fact that a salmon can still leave a little stream in the west of
0:21:45 > 0:21:47Ireland, go out to sea,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49travel across the ocean and come all the way back
0:21:49 > 0:21:51to complete its own life cycle,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53the fact that that still takes place
0:21:53 > 0:21:56fills me with a great deal of hope.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05This is Connemara, the heart of Ireland's wild west.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09And it's a place of bogs and mountains
0:22:09 > 0:22:12and the salmon have been seeking out these streams
0:22:12 > 0:22:13for maybe 10,000 years.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20There are a lot of obstacles in the river
0:22:20 > 0:22:22that they can only overcome after rain.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40Once there's enough water in the river,
0:22:40 > 0:22:42the salmon are able to find their way.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47That's when all the sort of energy and power is needed.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51Brief spurts of energy to get from one pool to another.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53So the adults have finally made it back to where they were born.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00Spawning cannot be far away.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10Some of these animals have been in fresh water for the last six months
0:24:10 > 0:24:12or so and they haven't eaten during that time.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18It seems like each female now has a male by her side.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23It's the female who will make the choice.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25She will decide when spawning is going to happen,
0:24:25 > 0:24:30but the male encourages her by shimmering, by shaking his body.
0:24:31 > 0:24:32He's trying to stimulate her
0:24:32 > 0:24:35by saying, "Look, I think everything's OK.
0:24:35 > 0:24:36"Everything seems right to me."
0:24:37 > 0:24:41And it is right. This is the shortest day of the year,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43when there's the maximum amount of darkness,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47and that seems to be a real trigger for salmon in the west of Ireland.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Fertilisation is instantaneous.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08As soon as she starts to lay those eggs,
0:25:08 > 0:25:10the male is in there instantly.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28The eggs are going to develop in the gravels
0:25:28 > 0:25:30for the next couple of months.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34They should be relatively safe up here from predators.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46They very much deserve to live.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48But unfortunately for many,
0:25:48 > 0:25:50they've actually come to the end of their lives.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00A place that appears now so lifeless
0:26:00 > 0:26:03is in fact full of life, but it's new life.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Amongst the gravels, life is just beginning.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17And the cycle is going to start once more.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11For me, wildlife and wild places very much go together.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16The sort of whole experience of being in the wild
0:27:16 > 0:27:21and seeing a place that seems so untamed in some way,
0:27:21 > 0:27:25you can sort of hear it and sense it and feel it.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27That's what adds to the experience.
0:27:36 > 0:27:41This is Sheskinmore, a wonderfully quiet corner of Donegal.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49It feels like I've sort of landed on some...
0:27:49 > 0:27:51coral island or some tropical paradise.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Well, it may not be
0:27:55 > 0:27:57the tropics, but it feels like paradise.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47These dunes are really exceptional.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49I've never seen anything quite like them in Ireland.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54Sand dunes by their nature are really unstable.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58The wind is constantly carving them into new shapes.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02You can almost see them moving with the naked eye.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08But here, the vegetation has gotten such a grip over time,
0:29:08 > 0:29:11that these dunes do not appear to be moving any more,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14and because of that,
0:29:14 > 0:29:18a whole sort of range of wild flowers have established themselves.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20I've never seen anything quite as good.
0:29:27 > 0:29:28And there's nobody here.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35And that's the great thing about the west coast of Ireland still.
0:29:37 > 0:29:38In the middle of summer...
0:29:39 > 0:29:42..you can have a place like this all to yourself.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49I've been wandering around now for
0:29:49 > 0:29:52a full day and I haven't seen a single person.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04The sun doesn't shine every single day of the year,
0:30:04 > 0:30:05but when it does...
0:30:06 > 0:30:09..you're rewarded with something that's really very special.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31BIRDS SING
0:30:40 > 0:30:43I was literally up with the lark this morning,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46and they must have started at five o'clock.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Absolutely alive with sound.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58I think they say there's more poetry written about skylarks
0:30:58 > 0:31:01than any other bird, and you can sort of see why.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03SKYLARKS SING
0:31:10 > 0:31:12I think when you hear that call,
0:31:12 > 0:31:15it reminds you of all those summer's days you've ever had,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17all sort of mixed up together
0:31:17 > 0:31:21with the soundtrack, I think, of a lot of people's childhoods.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28Busy, busy, busy, gathering as much food as they can.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34And the parents take avoidance measures
0:31:34 > 0:31:37to not draw attention to the nest.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41They land and go running through the grasses to deliver the food.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55The skylark chicks seem endlessly hungry.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02They need to get in as much energy as they can.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05They're born as tiny, naked little things.
0:32:08 > 0:32:10If you're hidden in a little nest on the ground,
0:32:10 > 0:32:14you are extremely vulnerable to predators,
0:32:14 > 0:32:16so you want to eat as quickly as you can,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19grow up nice and fast and get out of there and get to the air,
0:32:19 > 0:32:21because that's where it's safe.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28Skylark parents are absolutely fastidious
0:32:28 > 0:32:31about keeping their little nests clean.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35They're constantly removing the little faecal sacs
0:32:35 > 0:32:37that the chicks produce.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39And they pick them up with their mouths
0:32:39 > 0:32:42and fly away and drop them some place else, and that way,
0:32:42 > 0:32:44keeping the nest clean so there's no...
0:32:44 > 0:32:46Predators won't be attracted to its scent.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49It's all about disguising scent.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56SKYLARKS SING
0:32:59 > 0:33:04How they manage to sing and fly constantly -
0:33:04 > 0:33:06it must be some feat, really.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42There's a huge amount of growth in the ocean at this time of year.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44Growth on land is sort of easy to see, you know -
0:33:44 > 0:33:47the trees are bare and they come into leaf
0:33:47 > 0:33:49and you can see everything growing,
0:33:49 > 0:33:51but the very same thing happens in the ocean.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53We're just not so aware of that.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57It's when the temperatures start to rise, and the sun comes.
0:33:57 > 0:33:58It's all down to the sun.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00The sun powers the system.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20As the temperature rises and there's lots of ultraviolet light around,
0:34:20 > 0:34:24all the little plant plankton starts to grow.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28And as soon as that grows, all the little grazer plankton come along.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34And then, when you've all these little grazers,
0:34:34 > 0:34:36the predators of those grazers turn up.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04Real creatures of mystery.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07Until recently, we knew almost nothing about basking sharks.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12People used to say that they spent the winter sleeping on the bottom of
0:35:12 > 0:35:13the ocean.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18But now, we know they're just real ocean wanderers.
0:35:26 > 0:35:27Oh, look at this!
0:35:30 > 0:35:32Big white mouth.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34You can see he's moving slowly.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42What an extraordinary, beautiful creature that is.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51There are some unseen changes in the sea.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56Sometimes, the plankton seems to rise up to the very surface
0:35:56 > 0:35:57and then they just appear.
0:35:59 > 0:36:00They can smell it.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03But that's how they know how to be here.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11If I was to say to someone, like, if there's one thing you've got to
0:36:11 > 0:36:12experience in Ireland,
0:36:12 > 0:36:16it's being out with basking sharks on a fine day.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Look at this. Two of them swimming, one behind the other.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22Three, three together!
0:36:24 > 0:36:27Look! You can hear their tails,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30swishing from side to side as they turn those bodies.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33They're constantly turning and twisting their bodies
0:36:33 > 0:36:35into the plankton.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41I've never heard them before.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53They look like they're socialising, but as far as I know, they're not.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01Sometimes it's confusing when you see a couple on the surface,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05because they have two fins on their backs so people often think there's
0:37:05 > 0:37:06more sharks than there actually are,
0:37:06 > 0:37:08but when they're right on the surface,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10you can sometimes get the nose.
0:37:14 > 0:37:15Right here!
0:37:19 > 0:37:20(Look at that.)
0:37:26 > 0:37:31The wonderful thing about Ireland is that when you get these conditions,
0:37:31 > 0:37:35along the west coast, you can have a site like this all to yourself.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42These are just gentle giants.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44The second largest fish in the sea.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51They spend all day
0:37:51 > 0:37:54drifting along as casual as could be.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57They move so slowly and steadily.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03And in conditions like these,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05there's no place better in the world to view basking sharks.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36Tucked in the far northwest corner of the island,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Donegal often feels like a place apart.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45I guess when I think of wildness,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50I think about clinging on to visions of what the world was once like when
0:38:50 > 0:38:53we weren't here, or when we were here in low numbers.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01When creatures didn't have to worry about us.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07When I make an appearance on to that scene,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10the behaviour of nearly every creature changes.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17And they're scared of us because they've learnt that they have to be.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22It doesn't have to be that way.
0:39:33 > 0:39:38For thousands of years, the greatest predator in Donegal
0:39:38 > 0:39:40was an avian one,
0:39:40 > 0:39:41a golden eagle.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48They were here in an unbroken chain
0:39:48 > 0:39:52until people decided that the only good eagle was a dead eagle...
0:39:55 > 0:39:58..and killed every last one.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09We were really missing something without these birds.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17Perhaps 15 years ago or so,
0:40:17 > 0:40:21an ambitious project was launched to bring them back once again and eagle
0:40:21 > 0:40:24chicks were taken over from Scotland and they were released
0:40:24 > 0:40:25in this place.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31There's something special about seeing golden eagles
0:40:31 > 0:40:32back in these skies.
0:40:32 > 0:40:33EAGLE CALLS
0:40:35 > 0:40:39And for me, the call of the eagle is somehow the bird equivalent to
0:40:39 > 0:40:41the howling wolves.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43There's something visceral,
0:40:43 > 0:40:47and almost that sort of primeval connection with the wild,
0:40:47 > 0:40:48when you hear that call.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51It seems very much like they should be here.
0:40:53 > 0:40:58They've brought a real sense of wildness back to Ireland again.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06But they haven't thrived.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08They have struggled to breed.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Perhaps things aren't as good as they once were here.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29So these little guys are really important.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32They're among the first golden eagle chicks born in Ireland
0:41:32 > 0:41:34in over a century.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38Very precious bundles of DNA.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49If the project is to be successful,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53these chicks must reach maturity and somehow start families of their own.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00We need to be mindful of them.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08It's hard to contemplate losing them once more.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32There is a gathering here at this time,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35and it's a gathering that's unseen by most people,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38but if you look closely,
0:42:38 > 0:42:42you can see these strange, eel-like shapes,
0:42:42 > 0:42:44but they're not eels.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47They're a creature that very few people ever encounter,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51and that's because they have quite an extraordinary lifestyle.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58Someone found this fossil not too long ago,
0:42:58 > 0:43:00and in that fossil,
0:43:00 > 0:43:03there were the remains of a lamprey which looked just like one that is
0:43:03 > 0:43:05living today.
0:43:05 > 0:43:09That fossil was 300 million years old.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15That doesn't just mean that they were living here WITH the dinosaurs,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18it means that they were here before most of them.
0:43:20 > 0:43:21But when you go underwater,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23that's when you see how extraordinary
0:43:23 > 0:43:25these creatures really are.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30They don't have proper gills,
0:43:30 > 0:43:31they don't have jaws,
0:43:31 > 0:43:33they don't have scales.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38They're a totally different life form, really, altogether.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43And in early summer, in May and June,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45they come to places just like this.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51These are sea lampreys.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55Although they spend most of their lives living in the river,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58they do go out to sea for a year or so.
0:44:00 > 0:44:01And when they get out to the ocean,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04they attach themselves to other fish.
0:44:12 > 0:44:17They have these fierce-looking, prehistoric, round mouths
0:44:17 > 0:44:19full of these rasping teeth.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23And they use this process to latch themselves onto other fish.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27So they go from these sort of harmless,
0:44:27 > 0:44:30filter feeding, blind little creatures
0:44:30 > 0:44:32into flesh-eating, vampire-type fish.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39They grow very quickly, because when you're eating flesh like that,
0:44:39 > 0:44:41you can put on weight very quickly.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45And probably after about a year,
0:44:45 > 0:44:47they make their way back into rivers again.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53And as soon as they do, they get down to business.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10But they have this extraordinary sucker-like mouth.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14And they use that for shifting rocks.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20What they're trying to do is clear an area of the river bed so that
0:45:20 > 0:45:21the gravels are exposed.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39Any rock or stone, no matter how big, they'll seem to tackle.
0:45:51 > 0:45:52There's an otter about.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54They must have a field day.
0:45:54 > 0:45:55Can you imagine?
0:45:58 > 0:46:02As soon as they enter the river system, they've stopped feeding.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06They're going to have to clear the riverbed, mate,
0:46:06 > 0:46:08and, unfortunately, death will soon follow,
0:46:08 > 0:46:12so every lamprey that's here will be dead within days.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16Every creature has its place.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18That's what I think about lampreys.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22I mean, their lifestyle isn't maybe very attractive to a lot of people,
0:46:22 > 0:46:26but it's an important one. And I like them very much, I have to say.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32Any creature that's been around for that long
0:46:32 > 0:46:34has got life sorted!
0:46:35 > 0:46:39Will humans be around for 300 million years, unchanged?
0:46:40 > 0:46:41Doubt it!
0:47:04 > 0:47:09This place has been the graveyard of many a ship,
0:47:09 > 0:47:10even ones bigger than mine.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16And if I was to try and row my curragh around here today,
0:47:16 > 0:47:18I'd probably end up in Scotland.
0:47:18 > 0:47:19It's not far away.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25This is Malin Head, Ireland's northernmost point.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31The little light shining out to sea,
0:47:31 > 0:47:33and that's our northernmost island, Inishtrahull,
0:47:33 > 0:47:35and that's where I was hoping to get today.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38But in these conditions, it won't be possible.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Malin Head marks the northernmost point of my journey,
0:47:49 > 0:47:51and it's also where I turn east.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01This is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Irish Sea.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05It somehow feels a little gentler up here.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36Autumn really is one of my favourite times of year, I think.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39It's like the last burst of activity before winter kicks in -
0:48:39 > 0:48:41everything is preparing.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46Nature, it's great the way it works out.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49Just when food is going to go short over winter,
0:48:49 > 0:48:52there's this great explosion of high-energy foods
0:48:52 > 0:48:54that's just waiting to be gathered.
0:49:02 > 0:49:04Great to see the red squirrels around.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15They know that there are lean times ahead.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21And they're trying to gather as many nuts as they can,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24and they find little places to hide them, to cache them.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28But what they don't realise is that they're being watched.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45There's a whole host of thieves hanging round the trees,
0:49:45 > 0:49:47watching their every move.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53As soon as they arrive with another nut,
0:49:53 > 0:49:55it's not long before it disappears.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Earlier, I found some pine marten scat.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37There's an extraordinary thing that's happening
0:50:37 > 0:50:39that no-one could really have imagined.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Now, grey squirrels were introduced here a couple of hundred years ago,
0:50:43 > 0:50:45and they've done incredibly well.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49But as pine martens are moving across the country,
0:50:49 > 0:50:52grey squirrels are disappearing.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54And red squirrels are coming back.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57Now, no-one can figure out exactly why.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01When I stop and think about it, though, you know,
0:51:01 > 0:51:05pine martens and red squirrels evolved together, so it would make
0:51:05 > 0:51:07sense that red squirrels would have something
0:51:07 > 0:51:09in their sort of behavioural repertoire
0:51:09 > 0:51:12that allows them to escape pine martens,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15otherwise there wouldn't be any left.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17Whereas grey squirrels are a new arrival here,
0:51:17 > 0:51:21and maybe they are lacking those escape mechanisms.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24There must be something that they're not doing right.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27As a result, the pine marten is really
0:51:27 > 0:51:29the saviour of the red squirrel.
0:51:29 > 0:51:34It's an extraordinary thing that the return of one native animal is
0:51:34 > 0:51:36actually saving another one.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52When you walk here during the day,
0:51:52 > 0:51:57and it's full of the creatures that we are very familiar with.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03But at night, when you come in,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07you can hear all sorts of little creatures moving about.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14It's not easy to see them, but you know they're here.
0:52:28 > 0:52:29These are long-eared bats.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33This is just the kind of place they like.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42In times past,
0:52:42 > 0:52:44you'd only ever have seen them just sort of flitting by,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46and you must have wondered about them.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53They are unique amongst bats in Ireland.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55They have these enormous ears.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58Their ears are as long as their bodies.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04It is said that they can hear the sound of a caterpillar walking
0:53:04 > 0:53:06across a leaf.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08Pretty impressive!
0:53:15 > 0:53:18People often refer to them as being flying mice, but actually,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22they're much more closely related to us than they are to mice.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26Busy time of year to be a bat.
0:53:26 > 0:53:28They have to get all their feeding done.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33Put on little bits of fat between their shoulder blades,
0:53:33 > 0:53:35and they'll live off that for the winter.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42They hunt by listening.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46And they themselves are absolutely silent flyers.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51They just go around at night, hoovering up insects.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33Nice big moths, and they're perfect long-eared bat food.
0:54:36 > 0:54:37I love bats.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07The character of the sea has changed now at this time of year.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11It's not the place to be in a small little boat any more.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14It's a good time to end my journey.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21I started a year ago on a remote Atlantic rock
0:55:21 > 0:55:24off the southwest corner of Ireland
0:55:24 > 0:55:27and I'm finishing on this wild headland,
0:55:27 > 0:55:28overlooking Rathlin Island.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34This is known as the Sea of Moyle,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38and it featured in that ancient Irish story,
0:55:38 > 0:55:39The Children Of Lir.
0:55:43 > 0:55:48Now, Lir was the god of the sea and he had four children that he adored.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55But his wife died, and when he remarried,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58their stepmum cursed them
0:55:58 > 0:55:59and turned them into swans.
0:56:03 > 0:56:08Under the weight of this curse, they had to wander Ireland for 900 years.
0:56:13 > 0:56:17They spent 300 years of their banishment here on the Sea of Moyle,
0:56:17 > 0:56:20and that story has resonated on this coast.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27To this day, you'll still see the whooper swans journeying here every
0:56:27 > 0:56:31autumn, escaping from the grip of the Arctic cold.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37The fact that those journeys are still happening
0:56:37 > 0:56:41gives me a great sense of hope,
0:56:41 > 0:56:43for our natural history and our natural world
0:56:43 > 0:56:47gives us something to cling onto, a link with the past.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50I think that's something I've learnt on my journey.
0:56:52 > 0:56:57This place has been my back yard, but I now look at it in a new light.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20Sometimes there's this wonderful mix between sort of human history and
0:57:20 > 0:57:22natural history.
0:57:23 > 0:57:27That is something that is almost the theme of any west coast journey.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34You can't travel this coast without being aware
0:57:34 > 0:57:36that humans have been here for a long time.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42They were able to tread a little bit more lightly on the planet
0:57:42 > 0:57:43than we do.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50And that's the great thing about a journey.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54You can sort of plan steps along the way, but often the greatest times
0:57:54 > 0:57:58and the greatest places are ones that you happen upon by chance.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08The west coast of Ireland is still pretty wild.
0:58:10 > 0:58:12It's a special kind of place.