Conservation and Science

This newsletter and episode are coming out outside our usual schedule because today's guest, Éanna Ní Lamhna, is giving a talk this Sunday, 27 September, at Mount Congreve in Co. Waterford. Her talk, 'The Secret Life of the Irish Garden', looks at what our gardens can do for Irish biodiversity. It starts at 10am. You'll find the link to buy tickets here. I already have mine, so if you see me, come up and say hello.

Weeds, Rats and Deer with Éanna Ní Lamhna

Why does the blackthorn along our motorways flower weeks before the blackthorn in the hedgerows? How did Ireland end up with so many deer, and would bringing back the wolf solve the problem? And are farmers really the villains that some headlines make them out to be? Every now and then there is an episode with a guest who needs no introduction, and this is one of them. I'm joined by Éanna Ní Lamhna, biologist, broadcaster, Irish Times columnist and a panellist on RTÉ's Mooney Goes Wild since 1995. She is also a former president of both An Taisce and the Tree Council of Ireland. Our conversation opens with gardening, as Éanna explains why a weed is simply a plant in the wrong place. She also tells us why the real trouble starts when garden plants such as rhododendron escape into the wild, and how to keep garden birds safe from disease at the feeder.

From there, we move on to the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use, where Éanna is communications officer. She explains how rat poisons move up the food chain, with traces found in 80% of Irish barn owls and even in sparrowhawks and falcons that never eat rats. Éanna doesn't let me off the hook either when I share the story of the mice in my shed and the buzzard I spotted a few days after putting out poison. Then we turn to deer, a subject close to my heart and the hearts of many listeners. Éanna explains how the loss of the wolf, the arrival of sika and fallow deer, and plenty of grassland led to the numbers we see today. She also tells me why today's Ireland has no room for wolves. Would she press a button to make all sika deer disappear? And what can each of us do about the problem? Her answer is simple: eat venison.

In the final part of our conversation, we talk about farming and the uneasy relationship between farmers and environmentalists. Éanna argues that farmers are among the most regulated people in the country and that most of them want to see birds and wildlife on their land. She doesn't ignore the problems, such as the switch from hay to silage that hit curlews and corncrakes, or nutrients washing into our rivers. But she also points to the forces behind these changes, from EU payment schemes to supermarkets selling carrots below cost. And she has a challenge for those of us who complain about the price of food while mowing our lawns every week. If you enjoy this episode, I recommend Éanna's 'The Great Irish Biodiversity Book', and as Éanna says, go out and enjoy the world around you!

233: Eat Venison, Grow Carrots - Éanna Ní Lamhna on Nature and Farming

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