Calling the Curlew Home
The curlew, an crotach, is a bird deeply ingrained in Irish culture. From its appearance in old stories about Saint Patrick, through to the poetry of Yeats and Heaney, or the music of Josephine Keegan, the bird appears throughout our literature, songs and folklore, and is often represented as an elemental part of rural Ireland. But Ireland’s breeding curlew population has declined by over 95% since the 1980s, and we are now at risk of losing our native population from these shores. So, for a new generation of artists, like the sculptor Katie Spiers, the curlew has become a symbol of the biodiversity crisis, and the fragility of the natural world. This programme closely follows the fate of breeding curlew in the Slieve Aughty mountains of East Galway and Clare during the summer of 2022, while asking: can culture inspire us to save a species, and if we can turn around the curlew’s fortunes, could it ultimately become a symbol of hope for a renewed relationship with the natural world?
Produced by Lenny Antonelli & Michelle Carey
Narrated by Michelle Carey
Editing & Sound by Julien Clancy
Poetry was read by Anja Murray
Series Producer: Eoin O Kelly
Production Co-Ordinator: Peter Curtin
Commissioned by RTÉ lyric fm, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland with the Television Licence Fee.
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 5th March, 6pm-7pm