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Living a Wild Life

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Edited by Aideen Devine, Monday, 20 Nov 2017, 23:37

Just back from a great night out at our local theatre to see Colin Stafford-Johnson, the wildlife cameraman who recently graced our screens with Wild Ireland.

2 hours of stories and extracts from the many wildlife series he has filmed.  You know something is good when the time flies by.  Mr Johnson was a very entertaining and personable host and came out both during the interval, and after the show, to talk to people and have photos taken.  The Alley was packed too, which is testament to his work especially when you can pull a crowd like that on a wet Monday night. 

He told an interesting story in relation to pine marten's here in Ireland.  It has been shown that their re-introduction has had a positive effect on the red squirrel population.  Apparently, pine martens attack and kill grey squirrels but because red squirrels and pine martens have a long relationship and evolved alongside each other, the red squirrel has developed survival tactics which the greys don't have.

He also spoke out against manicured lawns, gardens and pesticides which is great for gardeners like me.  Early this year in spring, I didn't cut my dandelions because I noticed the bees were collecting pollen from them and as there weren't a lot of other flowers in bloom yet, I just left them until they went to seed.  He says we shouldn't cut our dandelions or nettles, as butterflies especially, love nettles and they are vital to their reproductive cycle.  I don't have any nettles because the soil in my garden isn't very good, but I'm working on it. Funny, that was one of the first things I noticed when I started gardening, wherever there are nettles, there is good soil.

Anyway, he has been touring the country with this show and there are only 2 dates left, Sligo tomorrow night and Waterford on Wednesday.  If you're around any of those places get a ticket and go, it will be money well spent.  If you missed this, you missed a real treat.  Highly recommended.

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