Dick concludes his journey during series finale of TV3?s ?Our Island?.

TV3 GROUP RELEASE

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday 27th October, 2014

 

 

Dick concludes his journey during series finale of TV3’s ‘Our Island’.

 

‘Our Island’ is a specific look at Ireland’s shoreline, its people, industries, history and wildlife.

 

In the fourth and final episode of the series, presenter Dick Warner explores the Connacht coast.

 

From Inverin to Tullaghan, Dick discovers the wave chasers, seaweed harvesters and whale cullers of the Connacht coast.

 

Interviews with Dick Warner available on request.

 

‘Our Island’ episode 4 airs this Wednesday 29th October at 10.05pm on TV3.

 

Video Link to view the third episode is available on request.

 

Presented by Irish environmentalist, writer and broadcaster, Dick Warner, this brand new concluding four-part series for TV3 delivers an insight into the people, places and beautiful surroundings of Our Island.

 

Over the last three weeks, this observational documentary series has looked at the wildlife that lives off the coast of Ireland, with a focus on the businesses and townspeople that thrive from it. It’s a compendium of human stories culled from Ireland’s maritime folk-lore. The sea has provided these people with a living, often more dependable than that found from the land. The Irish coastline has supported small and hardy communities that had to be self-sufficient for most of their needs. As Dick travels the coast, we hear stories of triumph and tragedy, endurance and endeavour, life and death; but ultimately, these are stories about people who have evolved to cope with the unique challenges presented by the Irish coast.

 

From Inverin to Tullaghan, the epic journey around Our Island comes to an end in episode 4 as Dick Warner discovers the wave chasers, seaweed harvesters and whale cullers of the Connacht coast.

 

Dick explores the Galway coast, where he gets to see the impressive honeycomb worms. Although they are tiny, the sand tubes they build may cover many yards of rock in rounded hummocks up to 20 in (50 cm) thick is a tube-dwelling worm that is distributed from Scotland to Morocco. In addition to playing an important role in defense against coastal erosion, the honeycomb worm is among a suite of warm-water species that is currently advancing northwards with climate change.

 

From the archaeological wonder of Mayo’s Céide Fields to the shipwrecks of the Sligo coast, the former whaling industry of the Inishkeas’ to Mayo’s Lost Islands, Connacht has a wealth of beauty, flora, and fauna – not to mention the glorious waves and surfing that is in its prime during autumn.

 

The community of Clare Island also features in the episode which famously conducted the biological survey of Clare Island (1909-1911); the first of its kind ever conducted in the world. In fact, even today it is still the principal survey in Ireland and Britain. The Clare Island Survey was a multidisciplinary (zoological, botanical, archaeological, and geological) survey.

 

A total of 8,488 species was noted.  3219 species of plants were collected (585 were new to Ireland – an 18% increase in the known flora), 55 new to “the British Island” and 11 new to science.  The diversity of the flora and fauna was accounted for by the fact that the great ice sheets of the last Ice Age did not cover Clare Island or its immediate vicinity.  5,269 species of animals were collected, of which 1,253 species were new to Ireland (a 24% increase in the known fauna) and 109 species were new to science. 

 

‘Our Island’ episode 4 airs this Wednesday 29th October at 10.05pm on TV3.

 

Images have been sent to your picture desks and are available on request.

 

See ‘Notes to Editor’ for a full list of expert contributors.

 

ENDS

 

 

For further information
Ciara Byrne – Press Officer – 01 419 3329/087 319 9732

Jean O’Donovan – Press & Publicity Assistant – 01 419 3428

Sharon McHugh – Head of Press & Publicity – 087 922 4143

publicity@tv3.ie                        
www.tv3.ie

 

Follow TV3

Follow us on Twitter: @TV3Ireland

Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TVThreeIreland

Follow us on Youtube: www.youtube.com/TV3Group

 

NOTES TO EDITOR:

About Dick Warner

Dick Warner has over 90 broadcast television documentaries to his credit.As well as writing and presenting the original 24 programmes of Waterways (which won the Jacob’s Award) and the 2011 sequel (which won two IFTAs) he wrote and presented 18 Voyage programmes about Ireland’s coastal waters.He did the same for the 8 programmes of the RTE/Channel 4 co-production Spirit of Trees and wrote Wood from the Trees for Time Horizon/RTE. He presented Ironing the Land, 8 documentaries about Irish railway history, as well as numerous one-off documentaries for Agtel/Independent Pictures and Tile Films. He has also written and voiced a number of David Shaw-Smith’s documentaries, including his recent Cots and Cotsmen.

 

In addition he has a huge portfolio of non-broadcast work, much of it about water of one kind or another, for clients such as the Central Fisheries Board, The Loughs Agency, The Office of Public Works, the National Botanic Gardens and Tourism Ireland. He also writes for print media and has published several books, the latest (2008) being The Liffey - Portrait of a River. He writes a weekly wildlife column for the Irish Examiner and features for a number of magazines.

 

Episode 4 Contributors:

 

Name

Role

Dr Louise Firth

Marine Ecologist, NUI Galway

Seán Ó Conghaola

Seaweed Harvester

Colin Hannon

Marine Biologist

Prof. Peter Gill

University of Gavle, Sweden

Denis Strong

Deputy Regional Manager - NPWS

Brian Dornan

Author ‘Mayo’s Lost Islands – the Inishkeas’

Prof. Seamus Caulfield

Archaeologist

Sarah Gallagher

UCD School of Mathematical Sciences