‘Senior Side Of The Street 15sept2024

This program is sponsored by Coram Connemara 0954116. Fáilte steach agaibh díon, Cláire Nócht, you're very welcome to this evening's program here on Connemara Community Radio. We've got a very interesting program on tonight. I interviewed Riley Hodge, who is an ornithologist who was here in Connemara for a very short visit on his way from the Arctic to the Antarctic, just like the birds that he was following. And that will be coming up very shortly. And then we have a lovely piece that Colin Brown recorded at the Sheep and Dog Show last weekend in Leedown. So we're going to go over now to our first interview. I love when I meet people who, traveling around Connemara and coming to visit here, have had an interesting story. And I just met somebody yesterday who has a very interesting story, and it's Riley who's going to talk to us a little bit about his trip to Connemara in a very unusual way. Riley, just to start off, I suppose, just give us a little bit about your background. You're interested in bird life particularly. How did that all come about? Really took off when I was in my undergraduate. And so I think I've always had an interest in the natural world, and that took a bunch of different forms as I was growing up. When I was in school, I had the opportunity to work on an offshore island with seabirds, and I totally fell in love with being on islands and the water and the immensity of life that sort of unfolds in these places. And ever since then, that has been the path, like specifically seabirds and islands that I've been pursuing. You graduated with DAS, and then you decided to continue on. So how did you start out on this part of the journey? Yeah, so I graduated in June, and for the past year, I've been entertaining the idea of this big project of following the migratory pathways of high latitude seabirds from the north to the south. And throughout my whole time at school, I'd known sort of about this fellowship called the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship that graduating seniors have the opportunity to apply for. And so in my senior year, I sort of put together a proposal to sort of follow these birds and look at their relationship with people and people's relationship with the birds and islands through history. And in the spring, I learned that I got it. And so I graduated. And then the next day, I loaded up some vans with some other students, and we drove up to Newfoundland. And ever since, I've been sort of traveling around the North Atlantic, and I'm getting ready to go south now. So it's really fascinating to just literally get up sticks and do something like this, because for an awful lot of people, just even the idea of traveling like that would be huge. And you are pretty much on your own once you get on the road, you're hardly on the road, you're on the sea. Just that idea of, I mean, do you have any plan of how it's going to happen? Or is it just pure chance you go from one island to another? Or how does that work? Both. So some things are very planned. But as my major professor always told me in school, nothing survives first contact with the field. And so when I was in Newfoundland, I was actually traveling with a class from my school that was in the field component of a course that was all about the history and fisheries and biology of the landscape in Newfoundland. And from there, I was going to Iceland. And I was hoping to work with this seabird researcher in South Iceland, but about a week before, or even less, like five days maybe before I was going to Iceland, that totally fell through. And so I knew I was going to Iceland, but I had no idea what I was going to do. So I ended up just sort of exploring Iceland on my own for about a month. And then I was about to head east to the Faroe Islands when I met Nick and Teddy. And that was a really serendipitous thing for me, because I was on this little island that's about, I think, 30 or 40 kilometers off the northern coast of Iceland, and the island's called Grimsey. And it's an amazing, amazing place that's just full of birds, and there's a small settlement of people. And ecologically, it's an interesting island, and also, like, human ecologically, I guess, it's also a very interesting island. But yeah, I met Nick and Teddy there, and they invited me to join them on the boat. And so I packed up my bag and moved on to Teddy, and, you know, in the course of those 24 hours, my life for the next month totally changed. Of course, that's Nick Capps, who people around here would know very well, and Teddy, his beautiful boat. So the northern section of this journey that you're on, what you've been exploring, very much people-orientated in a lot of cases, because those islands have been settled for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. Did you see kind of a... Were you learning about interaction of people with seabirds and seabirds with people? Yeah, so that was definitely a big part of my interest in the North Atlantic, is that sort of long-running human history of people on these islands and people living in very close intimacy with the birds on the islands. You know, something that I think is very interesting is you take Newfoundland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, you know, the Western Isles, Shetland, or the Outer Hebrides, St. Kilda, and at some point in history, there was a very similar subsistence economy on a lot of these islands and exploiting the same natural resources, whether those be whales, cod, dolphins, or seabirds. And I think, like, each of these islands has taken a much different path into the globalized world, so it's really interesting to look at the economy of Iceland today versus the economy of the Outer Hebrides or the economy in the Faroe Islands and sort of relate that to what the governance structure is, and is it an island government or an off-island government? Is it a sovereign island nation? And so that was something that I was really interested in, and also looking at places where these—because historically, hunting seabirds was a really important source of food and livelihood for people on these islands. And today, to differing degrees, that continues on all of these islands. So seabirds are still hunted in Iceland and the Faroes. There's an extremely regulated seabird harvest that happens on Sulaskir, which is sort of north of Lewis and off the Outer Hebrides, but there's, like, very different sort of social contexts for these different harvests today. And so the way that the Scottish government sort of regulates the harvest that happens on Sulaskir is that it's a—it is done solely to maintain tradition. Like, that's kind of the language they use. And if you look at Iceland, it's a much different picture, where it's, like, part of it is the maintenance of tradition, but it is also sort of still kind of a part of everyday life. And are people eating these creatures that they catch? Is that the idea, that it's part of their food chain? Yeah. And it's, again, to differing degrees in different places. So one of the reasons why Grimsey Island is really interesting, where I met Nick, was, or is, it's so far north that it's sort of subject to different oceanographic currents and thus different fish stocks than other places in Iceland. And so historically, harvesting puffins has been huge across all of these islands. And in Iceland, there's still a lot of harvesting of puffins, but the puffins in southern Iceland are experiencing what, like, a biologist would call breeding failure, which is kind of a—it's a hard—it's a difficult thing for something like seabirds, because they live so long. And so you'll keep seeing a lot of adults, but you don't realize that they're not successfully raising any young. And so at some point, you'd expect that population to plummet as those long-lived adults finally start passing away. But on Grimsey, the puffin population is really healthy. And so people are still hunting a lot of puffins on Grimsey and sort of supplying those puffins to different places all over Iceland. And apparently, just like talking to people on Grimsey, used to, it was really easy to distribute the puffins that they were harvesting. But today, it takes a little bit more work to, like, find buyers. So the market is decreasing. And so, you know, it's a part of—economically, it fits in that way, but it's also a part of people's, like, everyday lives. It's just like eating the birds that they're hunting. And you mentioned, like, the long life of some of these birds, but also some of these incredible journeys that these birds make. I mean, I'm not sure the puffins do huge journeys, but some of the turns are absolutely phenomenal. So were you able to kind of see their—either is it summer or winter? What are they doing? Where are they in the Iceland area? What's their story up there? Yeah, and so you get both, the summer and the winter story. And so the puffins, you know, they have small wings. They're much better at swimming underwater. They're much better at flying underwater than they are above water. And so they don't make these incredible journeys that some of the other birds do. So, like, the Arctic turn will travel from Iceland all the way down to the Antarctic ice shelf and back, which is just so incredible. It's so, so amazing. And that's like—that's kind of like a migration that they do. But there's all these other birds that sort of do these incredible— I would hesitate to call it a migration, but like a wandering throughout the year. And so while you're in the North Atlantic and it's the northern summer, the south is experiencing the southern winter. And so a lot of the birds that nest in the southern hemisphere aren't breeding right now, and they're off-season. And so they come all the way up to the North Atlantic. You know, while we were sailing in Iceland, you would see hundreds of sooty shearwaters. And sooty shearwaters mostly nest in the Falkland Islands in New Zealand and, you know, some other islands in South America. But so, like, these birds that we were seeing are from the Falkland Islands, thousands of miles away. And, you know, you just look at each of these birds and you think, wow, like the incredible journey that you are on. Yeah. And of course, you're following it in a way. Now, you know, that whole situation now, obviously, is changing with climate change. Can you or were you able to see any evidence of what climate change might be affecting those particular birds? Yeah. Migration is such a challenging thing to really, like, quantify how climate change is going to threaten. Because inherently, these birds are traveling such great distances and it's hard to know, like, what areas are really important. So it's like, is this an area where they're refueling for food? Or is that an area? Or is that an area? But I think one really important thing is the changing frequency of storms. You know, like, thinking about these terns that are crossing the Atlantic on the edge of hurricane season. Or, you know, it was interesting, in Iceland, people were telling me that the terns weren't doing very well this year, or there weren't that many nesting. And they had, there was a snowstorm in June in Iceland. And that totally threw off the breeding phenology of all of these birds. And so I think, like, that irregularity is becoming regular. And, you know, these birds adapt in incredible ways. But we don't know, like, what the ceiling on that is. And so, you know, there's these incredible stories of hope, of these birds doing amazing things. But it's also, it's like, yeah, it's hard to reconcile. Yeah, yeah, interesting. Now, you travelled, as you say, by boat all the way down through the west part of Scotland into Ireland and that. Did you also come across lots of marine mammals? Did you see lots of kind of interesting things that either surprised you or not? How does that work? Yeah, in Iceland, we saw tons of humpback whales, which was really special. And yeah, I think humpback whales are very charming. And we saw minke whales, various dolphins and porpoises, pilot whales. We got a very quick glimpse of an orca off south Iceland, which was very special for me. Because I'd never seen an orca before. Yeah, and you know, it's great to be with the dolphins and porpoises, because they're so playful with the boat. And, you know, they'll come up and they'll sort of like ride your bow with you. And they'll just like, you'll just, you can go stand on the bow and look down and you can see them underwater, which is just so, so special. It has a great, you know, great connection to nature when you're that close to them. That's really important. Now, as you say, you're here in Ireland and in a very short stopover on your way, but you're heading south, which is quite amazing. So you're heading for the Antarctic. You're literally following the route of these Arctic terns. Yeah, yeah, that's the plan. So what do you expect to find south? I mean, what are you looking forward to being able to study? Part of it is, well, the sheer immensity of life in the south, the Southern Ocean is incredible. And I'm really excited to see that. Sort of, objectively, some of the things that I'm really interested in is the contrasting human histories of the north and the south. So in the Northern Islands, you have hundreds to thousands of years of this intimate life with, between humans and seabirds. In the, you know, sub-Antarctic islands, that's not true. You know, those islands have only known people for a few hundred years. And the, in a lot of cases, the first interactions between people and those islands and those birds were whaling and sealing ships whaling and sealing ships that were stopping off to harvest huge quantities of birds and eggs or seals as fresh meat as they were chasing these whales all over the ocean. So I think, like, one of the things I'm really interested in, both the north and the south, is what are the sort of modern legacies of these different histories? And how do they manifest today? And, you know, in the South Atlantic, one of the really big ones is introduced predators, mostly in the form of rats. And so you'd have rats coming aboard these islands from, you know, they'd stow away on the ships. And then when the ships go to the islands, they get off the, they go off the ship and they take over the island. And these birds have never known land-based predators. So they don't have this, like, instinctual fear of rats. And so there's just these, these devastating stories of these rats just, like, eating these birds alive and totally destroying these populations. And, yeah, so, you know, that's a really interesting legacy. And seeing how people are sort of confronting that today. And so, like, South Georgia, which is this incredible South Antarctic island, they successfully did a rodent eradication campaign there. And the results were incredible. And just, like, life coming back in all of these amazing ways. But, you know, it's expensive and difficult. And, you know, in some cases, kind of dangerous to the birds to, you know, undertake these rodent eradication campaigns, because you might be putting poison in the environment. Or, you know, you have to do something. Yeah. When you do that, some sort of disturbance. And it's affected the life as well there. Now, you're heading for a research station in Antarctica as well. Yeah. What's that? That's been there for quite a while, I believe. Yeah. So I'm hoping right now the plan is, but I've learned to never put too much weight on any plans, is to go to the Palmer Station, which is on the Antarctic Peninsula, which, sort of getting back to your question about climate change, I think is a really amazing place because they have, they do, they're designated as a LTER, which stands for Long-Term Ecological Research Station. And, you know, there's only, it's surprising, but there's only a handful all across the world of research projects that extend beyond 25 years. And this is one of them. So they've been monitoring the same species in the same area for decades. And when you have that sort of longitudinal data set, it really allows you to start picking out these very important changes in patterns that you probably wouldn't see if you were just there for a year or two years or three years. Yeah. And so that sort of allows you to start picking out these pieces of how change in climate might be impacting the birds. And I'm really excited to learn more about this, but there they seem to have this really interesting pattern where these two species of penguins that ecologically are very similar are facing, one is doing really well and is expanding, and the other is doing really poorly and declining. And it's strange because they're, you know, they're very similar. You know, they probably are feeding on similar food, they're nesting in similar places, but there's something different that's impacting. And so that's sort of like one of the puzzles, which I think is a great example of, like, climate change is complicated and how these changing landscapes affect their inhabitants is really hard to tell. One will come up and one will go down. Yeah. I think you were mentioning yesterday, which I thought was fascinating, when you were talking about the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic, so much of that now is tourism-based and very wealthy tourists because these ships to down there are very expensive. Has that had an effect, do you think, on how people perceive the landscape and the bird life and the general area? Yeah, I mean, so yeah, that's the thing. And so historically, the interactions between people and these islands was through these whaling ships, and today it's research and ecotourism. And I think, like, the ecotourism industry is really complicated, and I don't have any, like, opinions about it yet, but I just have a lot of thoughts of, you know, you have these extremely beautiful and remote, spectacular places that are, through this industry, accessible to a very thin slice of society. And, you know, it all rests on the assumption that by seeing these places, people are going to be more willing to find ways to protect them. But, you know, the carbon footprint of the ecotourism industry is giant, especially in these places with ice and snow, because there's this thing called black carbon that I don't know a lot about. But, you know, one of the important things in these icy landscapes is the sort of balance between ablation and accumulation, so how much the ice is melting versus how much more ice is forming. And when you get black soot that settles on ice, the ablation or the melting rate really increases. And so, you know, there's the carbon you're putting into the atmosphere, but then there's also this soot that just comes from burning, you know, diesel. So it's like, it's this really interesting question that I don't know. I don't know what to think about it. But it's hard because I think, like, you know, one of the big questions in conservation is how do you make people care? And I think, you know, you can tell people facts all you want, but to see these wild lives in their wild landscape is such a powerful and special thing. And how do you reconcile that? I don't know. But it's a question, very interesting. I thought you would just let it stow away on one of these big fancy ships as well to find out exactly what's happening. Listen, it's incredible. Your passion for this is really interesting. And as you say, it's so wonderful that, you know, young people, everybody has to get involved, but that you're there doing your research, which I presume eventually will be published or somehow or other brought to the greater good as such. What will be the plan with that type of thing? Yeah, I mean, I like, in a lot of ways, this isn't what I'm doing right now isn't like strictly scientific research. You know, it's like my undergraduate, I was like, go out to these islands and really study these birds and collect, like, very objective data and, you know, analyze that with statistics to piece together, trying to understand something. To me, this is much more about story and finding these stories of these places and these people and these birds. Because I think going back to that question of how do you make people care, it's not always facts, sometimes it's stories. And stories can really have the power to really captivate people. And so for me, it's been about, like, trying to understand the stories of these landscapes, the stories of these birds, the stories of these people. And for me, the way to tell stories is through writing and visual arts. And so I don't know what's going to come out of this whole adventure. It kind of depends on, you know, how my notebooks and how my sketchbooks are looking at the end of it. But I think, yeah, I have all these images that are really stuck in my mind that might have just lasted a quarter of a second, but there's just something about, you know, this island or these birds flying in these huge swells. And so I'd love to spend some time in a print studio when I settle down in proper society again after this, and spend some time writing and see, you know, what I can weave together with that. Okay, well, I'd like to just say, Riley, it's the best of luck with it, because you're a great storyteller. And I have seen some of your wonderful photographs and things, so I know that you have stories of the images there to work on. And we look forward to whatever happens from us eventually. And as I say, maybe you'll come back to us when you've finished with the southern part of your journey, and we'll get to talk again. But listen, thanks a million for being with us today. Yeah, thank you so much. Maybe I'll see you at the next art festival. Absolutely. Well done, Riley. Thank you. Thank you. So On September 21st, Ireland's top traditional artists are coming to Connemara for an unforgettable night of music, song, and dance. The Irish Traditional Music Archive presents The Drawing from the Well concert tour, featuring Irla O'Leonard of the Glomis, Derek Hickey, Ethan Levine, and Stephanie Kane, plus special guests Mary Bergen and Mick Keneally. Saturday, 21st of September, at Our Clan's Cush Farraghe in Inverne, aircode H91W925. Tickets from 15 euros. Book today at itma.ie. Looking for a unique birthday party celebration for your child? Join Killary Adventure Company at our new aerial park. Our birthday party packages will have your little monkeys zipping through the treetops for a birthday they'll never forget. Perfect for kids, teens, and adults alike. Call Killary Adventure today at 095-434-11 or visit our website to learn more. Adventure begins at Killary. Bounce Back Recycling can collect old mattresses and furniture direct from your address. Recycled materials are recovered and diverted from landfill for a more environmentally friendly option. So go green and get in touch today. Collections across Connemara every Friday. Bookings are subject to availability. To get a quote or make a booking call 091-760877, see bouncebackrecycling.ie, or message Bounce Back Recycling on Facebook. Joyce's Hardware Reset located behind Joyce's Grocery specializing in animal feed, fuel supplies, and all your hardware needs. Competitive prices on bulk feed. Joyce's will deliver to all areas of Connemara. Contact Brian on 095-347-50 or 087-268-6946. Clifton Supply Centre, Galway Road, Clifton. Provide building supplies, plumbing and heating supplies, fuel merchants, DIY, and general hardware. Contact the Clifton Supply Centre on 095-214-76. When I got up this morning, the house was really freezing. I checked the oil tank, it was empty. That must be the reason. So I called up Greeny Oil, a truly local company, and took my order for some oil and delivered straight to me. Greeny Oil are at your service. Friendly, helpful, and they care. There are many easy ways to pay. Now that's what I call fair. They deliver oil to homes all over Galway and Surround. And Sweeney Oil's prices are the very best around. For the best value home heating oil in Galway, call Sweeney Oil today on 1-800-555-999. Or visit sweeneyoil.ie. Sweeney Oil's the warmer way to heat your home. So we're soaking up the atmosphere here now, in the car park just opposite Hamilton's pub and shop. And with a little bit of music going on in the background, I think they're tuning up for the next piece of music. So we just hold out the microphone here, get a sense of the atmosphere, and then we do a little walkabout. And we have one of the organisers here dancing on the radio. But now that I've held the microphone in front of her, she's just registering the entrance. You might tell me, how many have you registered? Or, you know, any idea? Hundreds? Hundreds, OK. Well, there's a great turnout, and there's a lovely doggy in front of me here. Hello, what's your name? Hi, how are you? I'm good, thank you. And who's the doggy? This doggy is called Finak. Finak? Finak. He's going to enter the show. Good, at two o'clock. That's it. In fact, my niece is going to see them to go into the show. All right, OK. I'm not very interested, to be honest. We'll keep an eye out for... Is it a boy or a girl? Well, it was a boy when I got him, but that didn't last long. We won't go into that. We won't go into that. No, no. And he looks a bit like a cross between a... Pomeranian, maybe? Pomeranian. He's... We call him the Posh Mutt. I got him as a rescue. He's about 10. And he looks like he's something... He thinks he's something special, anyway. Yeah, he's quite big for a Pomeranian, isn't he? Yeah, he's probably a bit of Pomeranian and something else. But we call him the Posh Mutt. Yeah, he's a lovely colour. What's your name? My name's Orla O'Toole. Orla. Where are you from, Orla? From Leenand. All right. Only up the road here. Yeah, yeah. So, OK. Well, good luck to the doggy in the show. We hope he might get up. And has he entered shows before? He has, but only in the most... This show is quite forgiving, I must say. Well, I have my dog in the Jeep over there. But I don't think I'll be entering him for the show. I know there are parts of you that are happy to see somebody else. Yeah, he gets very excited with former proceedings. All right. Enjoy the day. Thank you. Thank you. So, I'm just at the judging ring here now, where there's great activity. And a pair of Joe Hoggots judging. I don't know an awful lot about these things. I think the next time I come to a show like this, I need to do a bit more research. But anyway, it's just fascinating to watch it. And there's a great turnout. And people very interested from all over. A lot of overseas visitors. You might get a chance to talk to them shortly. Now, we have a young lady who is entering her doggy in the dog show. What's your name? And what's your dog's name? No, she's gone shy. She's gone in against daddy's tummy. She's not prepared to talk to me. Maybe she'll be all proud of herself if the dog wins a prize. And then maybe she'll be proud to have a chat with her. However, we'll have a quick word with Conor, her dad. And he might give us a bit of information. Hi, Conor. How are you, Conor? Good, thanks. Theresa's a little shy. She has the dog entered in the best category. Best waggly tail and the best behaved dog. OK. Well, I'm sure that will hopefully bring a prize. You put any of the owners in for best behaved child. That would be a category we would never win. I'm sure that wouldn't be the case. Well, oh, look at this little one. Little Pomeranian here. Tiny one. Oh, that's Zoe, isn't it? Zoe. Yeah. Yeah. She's going to be in the dog I want to take home category. Oh, well, looks like it is. So anyway, good luck, Conor. That's Conor from the Purple Door in Leenane. Enjoy the day. Thank you, Conor. Lovely to see you. All right. See you later. Thank you. So we have another judging now. The more sheep coming in, the class three black-faced ewes. You can get a bit of atmosphere in the background. Gentlemen all herding them in here, holding them tight in case they run off. So a very serious competition going on here for the next couple of hours. So now we're on to the aged ewe judging. So you just have a look at that for a few minutes. So this is the 53rd year of the Leenane Sheep Show. And the event has persevered and farmers journey through the landscapes of Connemara to present their prized black-faced ewes and rams. The coastal village of Leenane captivates visitors, offering a blend of mountainous grandeur and coastal allure. And indeed, lots of events here throughout the year, walking festivals and the sheep shows and so on. So a great place to visit, as indeed is all of Connemara. There are eight categories in the show here today. The first one, pair of ewe lambs for the King Cup. Second pair of hoggart ewes for the Tom Lydon Cup. Third pair of aged ewes, the Michael Keane Memorial Cup. Next one is best ram lamb, the Seamus Nee Memorial Cup. Next up then is the best hoggart ram, that's the Hamilton Cup. Sixth best aged ram for Rosaline and Frances Joyce Memorial Cup. And then the supreme champion of the show, the Michael O'Toole Memorial Cup. And then followed by the supreme champion confined, the Thomas Halloran Memorial Cup. As I say, the dog show will be coming up shortly now at two o'clock. So the farmers and the shepherds are very busy. The judges and so on. The shepherds, as they say on their own website here for the show, are often modest in disposition. And they form the core of this particular gathering. Many of them feel a touch of bachelors in the spotlight. So they're not inclined to want to talk on the radio as they're very serious here with what's going on. But we hope we'll have a bit of fun when we're covering the dog show. The categories in the dog show are best in show, dog to take home, best behaved dog, best tail wagger and best groomed dog. And indeed some of the children here, the young girls in particular, are all very smartly dressed for entering their dogs into the show. Indeed I think the next time the dog show is happening, they should have a prize for the best dressed child maybe. However that might not be a good idea, introducing competition among youngsters. So we'll pass that one by I think. Now you heard a little bit of music earlier on, a guinea oosh. And I'm talking to one of the gentlemen that was playing, a lady playing, a gentleman playing the fiddle, and the lady playing the box. And this is going to be a very interesting conversation. This man I'm going to be talking to. What's your name? Padder Tam. And you're a Floss man? No, I'm a Carrera man. And you have a project here that you'll tell me about called Din Sianachas, as in the old story. So will you tell us a little bit about that, maybe mix it with a bit of Irish and English for our Irish speaking listeners? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well Din Sianachas, it's a project, it's a project that a group is working on called Home Tree. It's a piece by Din Sianachas. Din Sianachas, Conté an Clare. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a project called Home Tree, and it's a project that they're working on so on the Western coast, in all the upland areas, or North Tyldesa, it's kind of North Tyldesa, it's a new word now for me, but actually I had it wrong the last day. And it's an art, it's a community engagement art project based on farming communities in upland areas. And the focus is on, well, from my point of view anyway, the focus is on, as you know, Sianachas, Irish, like heritage, culture, the community itself, and more so the future of it, as well as the Aranian Feathermurch, or Feathermurch, as we say up here. But yeah, and it's basically trying to, map the culture of the areas, the stories of the people in those areas, and their hopes and fears. Well, the hopes and fears, indeed. And is it a voluntary set up, or is it funded? Are you funding in any way? Yeah, it's funded by Creative Ireland, I've been told. And I think it's mainly based on, so it's, well, it's what I just said, which is the focus of it. And it's trying to inspire more creativity in the communities, I suppose. Well, Lucy can tell you a bit. She is from Hometree. Okay, Lucy. Lucy's got to come in. We did have a chat off mic, which might just give us a little bit more there. Hi, Lucy. Hiya, yeah. So the background in Sianachas' programme from a Hometree point of view, was that Hometree is a landscape restoration charity, but kind of understands that what they see as the future of a lot of Ireland's landscapes isn't necessarily how people who live in those communities and have been there for years see it as being positive, like more trees, looking after biodiversity, you know, those can be really contentious topics. So projects like this are about trying to bring people together to talk about those things and try and create a vision for the future from not just an environmental point of view or just a farming point of view, but for everyone in the community and everyone who cares about these places. Exactly, and indeed the tourism, the business. It's kind of like, as well as that, I've, you know, I've been chipping away at it now for a few months and people have been in different areas, like Kerry and Donegal, but I think one of the biggest issues, like I'm from, you know, southern Connemara as well, so it's rural. This is a bit more rural now, but, you know, we're seeing more now these days that there is still community and there's still like thankfully things like today, where we're getting people from the farming community coming together, but it wouldn't be as much as it used to be. You know, you'd have your metal days or your core days and I think myself, like my experience would be organising events, mainly like concerts and gigs and stuff and I'll be doing them down in south Connemara because like you need to bring the community together and like that's the only way you're really going to get anything done because, you know, the biggest issue here, the underlying issue to everything is housing. Yes, exactly and just here, just you mentioned there about gigs and so on, you mentioned to me just before we started our conversation, you have a gig coming up in a month. Oh yeah, in a month, yeah, yeah. So, on the 20th of September, I'm playing a gig with my mother. She's in Ashcote, so it's freeing and it's only a year old, eight years old, ten years old and a young musician, twenty years old. Which is in Casa and that will be an opening night of an exhibition that will be on that whole weekend, some of the people, so there'll be an audio-visual installation by the name of Fáilteannacht, which is Fáilteannacht like, you know, like an Amsterdam, like a future tent. So, it's a whole audio-visual experience, immersive in the hall and it'll be basically about the futures. Okay, well you've sent some information into Connemara Community Radio on that and we make sure we put it up on the Facebook page and give it a few shout-outs when we get closer to the event. So, wake us more. Thank you for the chat and hopefully we can have another chat with you with my great colleague, Brendan O'Connell from The Great Outdoors. I'm sure we'd love to have a chat with you in more detail so we can line that up for some time in the near future. It's a fantastic project, you know, and it's great, and something like this is great for the youngsters to see as well because it gives them an appreciation of, you know, exactly, you know, and like the other shows, the cattle shows and so on, you know, that it's not, you know, these pieces of land don't just appear in a plastic container in a supermarket. On that note, always support your local butchers and so on, those of you Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's what, like, you know, that would be my focus in this. It's just, it is all about the local communities and bringing people together more and more because, you know, traditionally they would have, but now, you know, there's machinery, there's different stuff, as I say, there's loads of red tape around everything, so it's kind of hard for lads to come together on their own common agenda and stuff to be working. So, I'm trying to apply my expertise to bring lads together for things like the crack, really, you know. Well, it's great. It's great to see it. It's almost like, if I, could I borrow the phrase? Oh, it's a bit like, well, there are women involved as well, but this one is a men's and ladies' shed. So, guys, thank you very much. Wake us more and hopefully we'll be chatting to you and we look forward to seeing you in Armagh and we'll have some more music from you shortly. I've got to go do a bit of the, a bit now with the youngsters. The dog show is coming up short. So, wake us more. Talk to you soon. Go raibh maith agat. Thank you. So, we have another one of the judging now for the sheep. I've actually had to stand in between two trailers here because the wind has really whipped up. So, just to shelter in a little bit before the dog show happens. And there's a lot of lovely doggies and very excited children here. So, hopefully you'll continue to listen for that. Congratulations, good man. So, we've just had the first of the dog show and there's a young man here with a great smile on his face. Maybe he'd like to have a quick word with Connemara Community Radio. Would you like to have a quick word? Hi, what's your name? Lorcan. Lorcan, how are you, Lorcan? And you've just won a prize? Yeah. Yeah, and you're here with mummy and daddy? Yeah. And what's your doggie's name? Trixie. Trixie, she's a beauty. Is she a little Jack Russell? She's a miniature Jack Russell. Miniature Jack Russell, yeah. Well, I got that bit right anyway. Even though I have a dog myself, I'm not great on the knowledge of dogs. So, Trixie, what was the category she was in? Best in, what was it? Best in the show. Best in the show. So, that was the first competition. Are you going to enter into it more? Yeah, she's entered in two more. Oh, good, you're on a winning streak now, good man. And are you from Linhan? Um, no, ma'am. Ma'am, are you? You're only up the road from me, yeah. So, look, good luck, Lorcan, and hopefully we'll see you pulling in another couple of prizes. Well, Trixie, give us a bark. Hello. No, she thinks the microphone is a big piece of tasty treat. All right, good luck. Thank you. Thank you. And now we have a young lady with the lovely little pomeranian who I saw earlier on. What's your name and what's the dog's name? My name is Lily and this is Zoe. Zoe, what a beauty. How old is Zoe? Zoe's eight. Eight, wow, and she's a miniature pomeranian, is she? She's actually a chihuahua. I have a book about dogs at home. I think I better read it a bit more carefully. Anyway, sorry, thank you for putting me right. There you are. And what age are you? I'm nine. Okay, it takes an eight-year-old and a nine-year-old to get me right about dogs. So what category is she going in for? She's going in for Best Groomed Dog, Best in Show and Dog Yorksday Come. Best Groomed Dog. Well, she certainly looks beautifully groomed. You're probably up all night grooming her, were you? No, she's just natural. She's just natural, like they are, yeah. Okay, well, best of luck and hopefully we'll see you winning a prize. And here's another good friend of the radio station, the famous Henry... I am famous because I have a YouTube channel. Your what? A YouTube channel. You remember we had Henry O'Malley on the radio from Moby Island a couple of weeks ago, or the Obey Races, rather. So what's your doggy's name and what competition are you entering him in? His name is Manny. He's 15 years old. Wow, he's a great fellow, isn't he? He's a quiet dog. Yeah. And we're entering him for Best Dog in Show, Best Tail Wagger. And it was... I always forget this last one. Dog You'd Want to Take Home. Okay, well, that's great. So he's in for three competitions and he's wagging his tail here, so he's getting into practice for the competition. Yeah, he actually won Dog You'd Want to Take Home last year. All right, yeah, but you still managed to hold on to him anyway. Yeah. All right, well, best of luck, and hopefully we'll see you now with a nice rosette shortly. Thank you, Henry. Good luck. Okay, bye. Bye. Here's a doggy that was just wondering what the man with the microphone is doing. Hello. We're going to go this time for the most waggy tail I think they will agree is. Is Millie here? Can I go a million miles an hour? So well done to Millie. So Millie's getting a great round of applause there with a great waggy tail, a beautiful Springer Spaniel. So there are prizes going around here like crazy. I think every doggy is getting a good shout in and a good inning. Now we have a lovely doggy here, mommy and daughter. Who's mommy? Hi, Lisa, and Maria. How are you? And doggy. What's doggy's name? Cussy. Cussy. What a great name. Is there a bit of Jack Russell in there? Yeah, Jack Russell. Yeah, yeah. Beauty. And what prize did he win? He won Best Dressed Dog, because he has a red harness and matching red leash. Has his Galway collars on. Yeah, yeah. So you won some lovely... Some beef fillets for the doggy, yeah. And are you from Leenam? We're from Mam. All right. Okay. And is the dog going in for any more or are we nearly done now? I think that's it. I think that's it. I'll go. Well, everybody seems to have done well. So we hope we'll see you at some more dog shows, all right? Thank you. Thank you. And now we have my good friend Henry back and he just won a prize. Yeah, I just won this toy thing. I don't know how to describe it. It's kind of a throw and catch yoke. Yeah, but Manny will definitely not bring it back. Is he not good at retrieving? Yeah, no, he's just chew on it until it's dead. Yeah, well, a dog of 15 years of age now. I'm sure all he wants to do is chill and chew. All right, well, well done. Yeah, thank you. And we'll have you into the station again another time, okay? Great, see you later. Okay, bye. We have a lady here now whose doggy won a lovely prize, a lovely pink collar and leash. What's your name? No, she's gone shy. Maybe mommy and daddy will tell her who she is. Amelia. Amelia. Hi, Amelia. And what was the prize for? What was the category? The most wagging tail. Most wagging tail. What's the dog's name? Millie. Millie. And the dog is still wagging its tail like mad. And who's this? Stephanie. Stephanie. And you won a lovely bowl for the doggy. Well, well done. And hopefully we'll see you in some more competitions. You might be less shy on the radio when we have a chat for the next competition, all right? Yes. Thank you. Thank you, girls. Thank you. Bye. So the dog show is now complete and everybody very happy. And some beautifully, beautifully turned out dogs here. And everybody seemed to have some degree of success. So so we round off our outing at Selena Animal Sheep Show and Dog Show with some of the people involved in Din Shankar. I hope I should pronounce the ocean right. Well, that's the show for this evening. And thank you so much for being with us. And I hope you enjoyed the two different interviews we had. We look forward to talking to you again. Would you like someone to talk to? Senior Line is Ireland's free national telephone service for older people. So if you feel like company today, phone us and talk to another older person who's part of our team. Free phone 1800 80 45 91. That's 1800 80 45 91. Senior Line is open daily from 10 to 10. And we'd love to hear from you. This program was sponsored by Forum Connemara 095 4116.