RTE - The Secret Life of the Shannon (2013) Part 2

The Secret Life of the Shannon
The Shannon is Ireland’s greatest geographical landmark and the longest river in these islands. For 340kms the river carves its way south through the heart of the country almost splitting Ireland in two. It is both a barrier and highway – a silver ribbon holding back the rugged landscapes of the west from the gentler plains to the east. On its journey, the Shannon passes through a huge palette of rural landscapes; where on little known backwaters, Ireland’s wild animals and plants still thrive as almost nowhere else. For a year, wildlife cameraman and presenter Colin Stafford Johnson will live on the river - camping on its banks, living on a barge, exploring its tributaries in a traditional canoe. He will be on a quest to film the natural history of the Shannon as it has never been seen before.

Part 2:
In Programme Two Colin brings us to the source of the mighty river and its unassuming beginnings. From here, it is a non-stop journey through breathtaking encounters with beautiful migrant Whooper Swans, Great Crested Grebes and Cormorants to name but a few. An explosion of Starlings gathering at dusk is perhaps the greatest wildlife spectacle to be seen in Ireland. Unseen and underwater we follow the mating antics of freshwater crayfish – argumentative male suitors fighting over females, protective mothers with their delicate babies. In slow motion a Red Squirrel is transformed from a cute rodent to an arboreal acrobat whose mastery would match any leaping lemur in Madagascar.

RTE