Irish nature, closely watched.
Mooney Goes Wild treats the natural world as something close at hand, from Dublin’s Brent geese and surviving elms to New Zealand albatrosses. Its conversations mix species knowledge, field observation, local memory and conservation concern without losing the pleasure of noticing details.
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Mooney Goes Wild is a natural-history programme with an Irish centre of gravity and a wide field of vision. It is as comfortable with a road-killed pine marten as with a wandering albatross crossing immense ocean distances. The show’s recent subjects include Brent geese, kingfishers, woodcock, old Irish goats, elms, yews, oaks and trees at the National Botanic Gardens. That range gives the programme its shape. Wildlife is not treated as scenery. It is tracked through behaviour, habitat, migration, disease, survival, folklore, research and everyday sightings. A discussion of albatrosses can move from poetry to satellite tags, radar detectors, long-line fisheries and the problem of vessels that do not report their location. A Dublin conversation about Brent geese can become a close reading of learned feeding sites, breeding success and seasonal change. The programme often finds drama in small acts of observation. A kingfisher is not simply colourful; it is tiny, fast, easily missed and better found by learning its sound. A woodcock is not simply secretive; it carries questions about camouflage, night feeding, courtship flights and disputed accounts of moving chicks. Trees are handled with similar texture. Episodes bring in Dutch elm disease, possible resistance in surviving witch elms, the cultural placement of yews in graveyards and the long human reliance on oaks. The register is conversational and occasionally playful, with room for jokes, interruptions and sideways memories. Still, the science matters. Names of species, places and institutions are not decorative; they anchor the discussion. Conservation questions recur without turning the programme into a lecture. The result is a show for people who enjoy being led from a familiar Irish scene toward a larger ecological story. It rewards curiosity more than expertise. It also respects the field ethic that runs through the excerpts: watch carefully, keep distance, record what is useful, and do not disturb the creature being admired.
Made for: Suits a listener who enjoys natural history through grounded conversation, field observation and species-specific detail. It is especially fitting for someone drawn to Irish wildlife, conservation questions and the overlap between science and local memory.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its movement between intimate Irish places and much larger ecological systems. A park, marsh, road verge or old tree can open into genetics, migration, disease, folklore or conservation technology.
Derek Mooney and guests explore the natural world in all its forms. Listen live every Monday at 10pm on RTÉ Radio 1.
A kingfisher hides in plain sight, and you learn what to look for next.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A wide-ranging albatross story links ocean travel with the conservation threats waiting at sea and on breeding islands.
The wandering albatross comes through at full ocean scale: months at sea, whole oceans crossed on wind, and only brief returns to land. The episode sets that reach against real conservation pressure, with Niall Hatch covering climate change, rats and mice eating eggs and chicks…
A gentle garden walk where trees hold botanical detail, cemetery lore, and the memory of whole landscapes.
At the National Botanic Gardens, Terry Flanagan joins guide Owen O'Reilly for a tree-led walk that moves from a split-trunk sequoia into the older stories attached to yew and oak.
A city park farewell reveals how Brent geese carry seasons, routes, and change through urban life.
A farewell to Brent geese turns into a clear, grounded look at how wild birds thread their lives through a city. In La Fanu Park, Terry Flanagan and Eric Dempsey follow the sound before the sight, finding a large flock in the hollow below.
Goat bones, collagen, and genes make a farm animal a guide to Ireland's deep past.
Kevin Daly uses an old Irish goat to open a compact, tactile trip into Ireland's deeper past, where animal habits, archaeology, and genetics all have to line up before a story can be trusted.
A patient field account of a tiny, vivid bird that can vanish in plain sight.
Jim Wilson's winter filming of kingfishers at Birdwatch Ireland's Cuskinny Marsh Nature Reserve works best as a quiet study in attention. He follows the work before the picture: heading out in pitch dark, setting up a camouflaged tent, and waiting near the perches and fishing…
Science education between theory and classroom reality.
A guided tour at the National Botanic Gardens explores the history and conservation of redwoods and other trees.
["Mooney Goes Wild uses Jamie Darby's Antipodes Islands fieldwork to show why Antipodean albatrosses are losing ground to 100-kilometre longlines.", "Niall Hatch frames the interview around longline bycatch, while Darby explains how the birds' three-day voyage from Bluff to the Antipodes Islands sets up the research.", "Darby says one tagged bird travelled 17,000 kilometres in three weeks, and the females are hit harder because they range farther north than the males.", "The episode finishes on practical fixes: weighted hooks, bird-scaring lines, and hook pods that try to keep bait below the level albatrosses can reach."]
Niall Hatch discusses the increasing number of pine martins seen dead on Irish roads, indicating their growing population and range expansion.
Jim Wilson discusses his experience filming kingfishers at Cuskinny Marsh Nature Reserve in Cork, emphasizing patience and minimal disturbance.
Mooney Goes Wild interviews Kevin Daly, Assistant Professor in UCD's School of Agriculture and Food Sciences and co-lead author on a study of the old Irish goat.
Terry Flanagan discusses the departure of Brent Geese from Dublin parks during the in-between period of seasonal bird migration.
On Mooney Goes Wild, James O’Neill explains why the Eurasian woodcock is a woodland wader that feeds on earthworms after dark.
Arborist Joe McConville discusses the discovery of four mature witch elms in Dublin that are naturally resistant to Dutch elm disease, offering hope for the future of Ireland's native elm trees.
Grey squirrels don't recognise the pine marten as a predator, while red squirrels keep well away from it.
Richard discusses how the Brent Goose, once scarce, has thrived in Dublin and could serve as the city's symbolic bird.
A panel discusses what happened to dinosaurs, including the meteorite theory and local fossils in Ireland.
Irish journalist Philip O'Connor discusses Swedish Christmas traditions, including Santa's visit on Christmas Eve and the magical atmosphere.