Feather & Flock
Winner of the Gold Award in the Specialist Speech programme category at the 2024 IMRO awards.
Feather and Flock is a six-part series about some of Ireland’s most iconic breeding birds. Each episode combines ecology, folklore and music to uncover the incredible lives and journeys of these wild creatures. Presenters Anja Murray and Brían Mc Gloinn hear from biologists, behavioural ecologists, folklorists, a poet, linguistic experts and others in an exploration of each bird and its place in Irish culture. The series is soundtracked with immersive on-location recordings from Brían Mac Gloinn and series collaborator Seán Ronayne of Irish Wildlife Sounds, along with avian themed folk music and original compositions by Brían Mac Gloinn and friends. Episodes 1 to 3 were broadcast earlier this year and are available from the Lyric Feature page of the RTÉ website.
Episode 5: Terns
Ireland is a stronghold for terns, and his home to five different species of these globetrotting birds. In this episode ecologist Anja Murray and musician Brían Mac Gloinn visit a busy nesting colony of little terns on the Wicklow coast and talk with tern programme conservation manager from BirdWatch Ireland, Brian Bourke, about the lives of these beautiful birds. Another species that nests around Ireland is the Arctic tern, who travel more than 70,000 kilometres each year, all the way to the Arctic and back again to breed here. Lifelong birder and author Anthony Mc Geehan shares his insights with Brían and Anja as to how these tiny birds complete such epic migrations each year. The pair also hear from Urban Birds Project Officer Tara Adcock about conservation efforts to help tern populations recover.
The adventurous lives of terns are surprisingly absent from Irish folklore, but Brían has composed songs and a score for this episode that incorporate musical elements of terns calls, flight, and the many places where they travel to on their epic global journeys.
Presenters: Anja Murray and Brían Mac Gloinn
Produced by: Anja Murray
Original score and songs by Brían Mac Gloinn
Sound Design & Editing: Brían Mac Gloinn
Series Producer: Eoin O Kelly
Production Co-Ordinator: Michael O’Kane
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 3rd November, 6pm-7pm
