RTÉ - Shanks Mare
By RTÉ:Ireland
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Podcast Description
In Shank's Mare Ella McSweeney goes walking around Ireland and introduces us to the people, flora and fauna she meets along the way. From stunning Donegal to the rough edges of Mayo's coastline, ancient woodlands in Derry to rugged Kerry, she hears about the wildlife and people that make Ireland's hills, mountains and coastline such a magical environment for walking.
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1 |
Shanks Mare - Wildlife Special | Ella McSweeney brings you a wildlife special, when she finds out about hibernation in the animal kingdom and how it works. She goes down a deep, dark souterrain, just outisde of Macroom, with bat expert Conor Kelleher to see hibernating Lesser Horsehoe Bats, and talks to Ferdia Marnell about how the Common Frog spends the winter. She goes to the Belfast home of Vanessa Reavey who founded the Happy Hedgehog Rescue Centre, and also talks with Queens University zoologist Peter Laming and insect expert Archie Murchie of Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture. Ella will also look at the possibilities of human hibernation with scientist Mark Roth from Seattle's Cancer Research Centre. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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2 |
Shanks Mare | This week Ella travels to Newcastle West in Limerick where a stretch of old railway will be officially opened as a walking route on the 15th August 2004. The stretch is part of the old 53 mile railway route from Limerick to Tralee that opened in 1867 and closed in 1975. She meets Liam O'Mahony of the 'Great Southern Trail' group and also meets Denis Foley, who spent all his life working on the railway through the last century. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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3 |
Shanks Mare | Ella is joined by Anthony McElron who has been fascinated by merlins for the past 25 years. He takes her on a walk up Duff Mountain in Wicklow and shows her how walkers can identify if merlins are around the area or not. Merlins are the smallest falcon in Ireland and are known for being elusive and shy. They take over old crow nests to incubate and bring up their young, and are found nesting in spruce trees in the rolling Wicklow countryside. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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4 |
Shanks Mare - 1st July 2005 | This week Ella walks the beautiful rugged coastline of West Cork. She meets Padraig Whooley on Galley Head who gives a few hints of how walkers can spot whales and dolphins off shore. She also meets a local farmer who's spent his life with one eye on the ocean, in case he sees some cetaceans! | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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5 |
Shanks Mare - 29th July 2005 | On this mornings Shanks Mare, Ella walks the nature reserve of Aughinish Island on the Shannon Estuary which is a site of huge oxide refinery but also an area dedicated to walking and watching various wildlife species. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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6 |
Shanks Mare - 26th August 2005 | This week Ella walks the dramatic coastline of Hook Head in Co. Wexford, starting in the gorgeous fishing village of Slade. Ella talks to Billy Colfer and Kevin Whelan along the coastal walk of Slade to the Hook Head Lighthouse. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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7 |
Shanks Mare - 31st October 2005 | The popular Shanks Mare walking series is back for a special one-off Halloween programme. Join Ella McSweeney as she meets Ireland's best pumpkin growers. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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8 |
Shanks Mare - 15th July 2005 | On this morning's Shanks Mare, Ella travels to the town of Banagher in west County Offaly to meet Brian Caffrey, who takes her on a walk to find the elusive corncrake bird. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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9 |
Shanks Mare - 17th June 2005 | A local development organisation in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan bought a 65 acre farm a mile from the village five years ago. Ella meets with the people responsible and finds out more about the farm, the wildlife walks in it and the projects that have been developed for the local children north and south of the border. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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10 |
Shanks Mare - 19th August 2005 | On this week's Shanks Mare, Ella walks along the banks of an amazing engineering project that took place in the 18th Century to provide extra water to keep the Grand Canal functioning. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - 10th June 2005 | Ella McSweeney walks around the rugged coastline of Dungloe in west Donegal with librarian Fiona Sweeney who initiated a project 'Even the Rocks have Names'. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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12 |
Shanks Mare - 2nd September 2005 | Ella goes to her favourite part of Ireland in Burrishoole in Co. Mayo, to walk the majestic lakes of Lough Feeagh and Lough Furnace, and talks with Joe McDermott, Sue Callaghan and Russell Poole. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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13 |
Shanks Mare - 5th August 2005 | This morning Ella is in Knocksink Nature Reserve, just outside of Enniskerry in Co. Wicklow. She finds out more about the National Environmental Centre which is located in the reserve, and also about a plan to make this gorgeous native woodland part of the wonderful Wicklow Way. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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14 |
Shanks Mare - 8th July 2005 | This morning Ella goes on an urban walk through parts of Ballymun in North Dublin with local artist Paddy Kavanagh who tells her the lie of the land before the flats went up in the 1960s. She also meets Joe Stuart who grew up in Ballymun and looked after one of the last functioning farms in Poppintree. He recalls the days of looking after the animals, hearing and seeing the wildlife of the area and life in general before the flats went up in the late 1960s. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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15 |
Shanks Mare - 22nd July 2005 | On this mornings Shanks Mare, Ella takes a walk through an orchard in Scariff, Co. Clare which has over 150 varieties of apples. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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16 |
Shanks Mare - 24th June 2005 | Ella walks the coastline of Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal, with local naturalist Liz Shephard who talks to her about the unique coastal machair habitat. Ella also talks with Ewan Barry who wrote about this for the exhibition in the local workshouse museum in Dunfanaghy. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - June 30 2006 | Many people will think of Galway United football team when they hear Terryland Park. But Terryland is also the name of a 160 acre stretch of wilderness in the middle of bustling Galway City. The nearby Terryland River is a tributary of the Corrib and goes through the waterworks for Galway. Apart from the recently re-developed Eyre Square, there are no parks for the people of Galway City. It was in 1997 when a group of people decided to propose that the 160 acres should be developed as a forest park. The council agreed to keep the land wild and free of housing development, and it's now on the way to becoming a large piece of wild heaven in the middle of a busy city with a yew tree maze and a native tree planting scheme, Colin Lawton is a zoologist who works in nearby NUI Galway and he now uses the 160 acre site as part of his mammal surveys. And it was on one of these surveys that his team found the first ever recorded bank vole in Galway county. Ella speaks with Colin about the wildlife in the park, and talks with local man Brendan Smith who was heavily involved in keeping this land free from development. She also meets naturalist Gordon D'Arcy who's been very enthusiastic about Terryland Forest Park. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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18 |
Shanks Mare - 1 September 2006 | For the final programme in the series, Ella walks the incredible journey from Irishtown Nature Reserve, along the coastal path near the Docks, and out towards the Pigeon House Pier on the Great South Wall in Dublin. She speaks with botanist Sylvia Reynolds, local historian Brian Siggins and Half Moon Swimmer Tom McLoughlin. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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19 |
Shanks Mare - 25 August 2006 | Ella walks along what remains of the ancient bridle pathway linking Derry to Lough Derg. It was a pilgrim route used by people to the Lough. She meets Liz Sheppard just outside of Raphoe who has a mile of intact pathway, and talks to John Conaghan in Ballybofey who also has some of the route near his house. She also hears from two siblings who remember seeing the pilgrims walking past their house near Ballybofey. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - 18 August 2006 | This week Ella goes on a walk with John Lusby of Birdwatch Ireland in North Tipperary, just outside of Portumna, in search of a family of owls that are breeding in a nearby castle ruin. John has been following the owls that are living in the castle for a number of months and Ella gets a few hints how to spot them | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - 11 August 2006 | On Shanks Mare this week, Ella McSweeney walks Bilberry Rock to find out more about 28 unique goats that live there. It's thought that the animals arrived in Waterford with the Huguenots 300 years ago, and they're believed to be related to Maltese or cashmere goats. Ella meets goatkeeper Martin Doyle, and talks with Conor Kelleher and Emma Teeling who are doing genetic tests on the goats, and also Catherine Carroll who set up the Bilberry Goat Herd Protection Trust. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - 4 August 2006 | Ella walks along the beautiful Lullymore Bog in Kildare. It's a raised bog managed by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council (www.ipcc.ie) She meets with Jim Kenna who's cut the turf for the past 55 years, and also talks with Patrick Crushell who's doing research on the importance of raised bogs in Ireland. He introduces her to two Dutch students who explain why the Dutch people are so interested in Irish boglands. She finally meets Nuala Madigan and Caroline from the IPCC. Nuala is organising an exhibition on the Dutch-Irish bogland initiative, while Caroline explains why the Marsh Fritillary Butterfly loves the bogs so much. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - July 21th 2006 | Shanks Mare in Durrow, Co Laois Ella visits Durrow in Co Laois to find out more about the unique little freshwater animal, the Durrow Pearl Mussel that's found in the River Nore - the only place in the world where you can see this creature. It can live to a ripe old age of 130 years, and has an incredible life cycle. Evelyn Moorkens talks to Ella about this amazing species and how it breeds. She also speaks with Anne Lannigan and Sean Conroy who live in the town and have developed walks around the area. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - July 28th 2006 | Shanks Mare in Kilkenny Ella goes in search of her favourite mammal, the elusive and majestic otter. She joins zoologist Lughaidh O'Neill on his project along the King's River in Kilkenny. "Lughaidh O'Neill would like to hear from anyone who has otter or mink corpses. You can contact him at Trinity College's Zoology Department (01 6081366), or email luoneill@tcd.ie" | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - July 14th 2006 | Shanks Mare in Canty's Cove Connie and Conor Kelleher are twins from Macroom, Co. Cork who both have a keen interest in local history and wildlife. On this week's Shanks Mare, they join Ella to walk along the majestic coastline of Canty's Cove, overlooking Dunmanus Bay. It was here that pirates landed after their journeys too and from the West Indies, the Caribbean and Ireland. Connie talks about these pirates, and how local lordships were involved, such as the O'Driscolls of Baltimore. Ella also finds out about the wildlife of this incredible area, as Conor tells her about the species which make Canty's Cove their home. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - July 7th 2006 | In this week's Shanks Mare, Ella takes a walk from Tallaght to the Glenasmole Valley just beyond it. She hears from Benny, a beekeeper who has kept bees in his back garden for over 40 years. She then meets Michael Kelly at his study site in Glenasmole. He's a zoologist who is trying to find out what effect a tiny parasitic worm has on another species of bee, the bumblebee. This parasite only infects the queen bee, and releases up to 100,000 eggs into the blood of the queen. And this changes her behaviour, as she makes no attempt whatsoever to find a nest site and feeds only for herself. Michael tells Ella more about his work and how this little worm does its damage inside the queen bumblebee. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - June 16th 2006 | Tolka Valley Forest Park lies in the heart of busy North Dublin. But walk a few hundred metres off the main M50 and you will come to a beautiful wildlife haven - the trees full of singing birds, the Tolka River stocked with fish. It's here that biodiversity officer Hans Visser is hoping to develop a wildlife park for the local people. Ella McSweeney finds out more in Shanks Mare this morning, and also talks to local fishermen John Hennessy and Pat White. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - June 23rd 2006 | Glencree Valley is a mere 20 miles from the centre of Dublin, yet it feels a world away when you're walking the shores of the magnificent Lough Bre. And it's just beside the glacier lake in a little cottage where Mrs McGuirk cooked delicious food for a host of Irish society; everyone from JM Synge, William Beckett, Hugh Lane, Robert Lloyd Praeger and even Douglas Hyde took the journey to this mecca of relaxation. In this Friday's Shanks Mare, Ella walks from Glencree Village - famous for its Reconciliation Centre - along the old military road, past McGuirks Tea-Rooms and finishes by Powerscourt Waterfall. On her way, she meets the oldest living resident in Glencree, 85 year old Kevin Kelly whose sister used to run the local shop. He remembers the boys who used to live in the reconciliation centre when it was a reformatory. She finds out more about how and why the military road was built by the British when writer Michael Fewer joins her, and they both meet Gloria Smith who was the last person to run the tea-shop before it closed in 1998. Gloria recalls coming across the old visitor books, complete with sketches and notes from the glitterati of Irish literary society. Ella ends the walk with cousins Michael and Mark Hogan who live in an 18th century farmhouse near the waterfall. Michael is the last farmer in the valley. They talk to her about how the farming way of life has slowly but surely gone by the wayside in the past few years. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shanks Mare - June 9th 2006 | Ella McSweeney travels to Corofin to walk with Ireland's only cave archaeologist Dr Marion Dowd, who has dug up some incredible remains. She found uncremated human bones dating back 3,500 years, buried with amber, shell jewellery and pottery shards. Ella also talks with caver Colin Bunce, and local historian Myra English. | 5/5/09 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 29 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Take this walk!
I've been listening to the pocasts of Shanks Mare, Ella McSweeney's self-produced weekly radio program on RTE, Radio 1, and loving how it takes my mind away from walking in New York City and into the quiet treasures of Ireland's wilderness. Her genuine curiousity in the people and places she visits is clear in her expressive, mellifluous voice. Ms. McSweeney is able to bring out the best from everyone she interviews, eliciting very straight-forward scientific and historical information by asking sensible questions with charm. She has hosted and produced other scientific programs for the BBC and RTE, all of which are worth your while.
