Now that’s something to tweet about
Mooney’s going wild as his Dawn Chorus takes f light to India
THE Mooney Goes Wild Dawn Chorus on RTÉ Radio has become an international phenomenon, even scooping a prestigious global award for presenter Derek Mooney.
What started 22 years ago as a five-minute radio segment on the collective sound of the birds that sing at dawn has grown into a marathon broadcast that spans the European continent. And now, for the first time, India is joining in the six-hour celebration of birdsong.
From midnight to 6am next Sunday, Mooney will team up with broadcasters and bird experts for what they describe as ‘an ornithological opera’.
‘It’s just incredible,’ says Mooney, likening it to the Eurovision Song contest. ‘All Radio India is taking part this year, they have 420 stations under their umbrella. There is a nature reserve beside the Taj Mahal so it will be incredible and there will be some amazing exotic sound birds there.’ Each morning in May, as the first glimmer of light begins to break the darkness of the skies, millions of birds begin to sing to lay claim to a breeding territory and to attract a mate. ‘The wall of sound which the birds produce moves like a great wave across the face of the earth,’ says Mooney who is fascinated by birds and baulks at the notion that anyone would keep one as a pet. ‘I don’t see the need to keep a bird as a pet or trapped in a cage. I just don’t understand it,’ he said.
However, he loves nothing more than to hear birdsong.
And there is no larking around when it comes to the show as experts from all over the world are drafted in to make it the success that it has become.
And this year BBC radio 4 will also be broadcasting the event in the UK.
Recording the natural phenomenon is no mean feat and involves laying thousands of metres of cable to pick up the sound in numerous locations.
Wildlife experts have been scouting different locations for the past few months to determine the best spots to place the microphones.
The enormous effort involved was acknowledged last year when the Mooney Goes Wild team won the Rose D’Or for European Radio Event Of The Year and the National PPI Radio Award for Innovation.
‘That was incredible to win the Rose D’Or. Such an honour for the whole team. It is the biggest radio award in the world,’ says Mooney.
A lover of all things natural he says there is a demand for more nature-driven shows in Ireland.
‘Of course we could make more nature programmes but we do allocate a lot of time for nature on radio. But there is always room for more.’
He also thinks people’s attitudes to nature have changed.
‘We do care more and people are very aware of nature.’
It’s also an antidote to the stresses of modern life, he says.
‘Isn’t that a nice thing to wake up to, the sounds of the dawn chorus? Just even for a few hours that there is no bad news, no horrific events. Just to hear the birds’ song and think there is a life to live.’ Dawn Chorus 2017 is broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 from midnight to 6am next Sunday, May 7. niamh.walsh@mailonsunday.ie