Nature programmes on the TV

At a time when wildlife is disappearing across the planet, one animal is making a comeback - the wolf.

Wolves were wiped out across much of America, with more than a million wolves estimated to have been shot, poisoned or trapped when European settlers arrived.

This enthralling series documents the return of one very special wolf pack to the snowy peaks of Washington's Cascade Mountains - the first to return to the American Northwest in 70 years.

For three weeks on BBC Two, from 28 May to 14 June, Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and Martin Hughes‐Games follow stories of survival in Spring, a crucial time for wildlife.

As well as watching the action on all the live cameras, the series will reveal the beauty and drama of this exciting season as spring unfolds. Springwatch will also report on the latest wildlife news from across the UK, reacting to stories as they happen, and investigating the events that matter.

Springwatch will once again involve viewers in surveys, inspire everyone to get outdoors, to share their stories and most importantly make a difference to the understanding of nature.

This year, Springwatch has a string of firsts for wildlife lovers to enjoy, including:

seeing into the heart of a kingfisher’s nest
witnessing internal rivalry in a family of urban peregrines
delving underground to film moles

In this documentary series, Dr. Éamonn Ó Ciardha looks at our complex relationship with the Wolf, taking us on a hair raising journey into Ireland's past, exploring the background to what many of us experience as an instinctive fear of the Wolf or Mac Tíre - son of the land. A land that was in increasing turmoil at the turn of the 16th century as plantation settlers began to arrive. For them, the wolf became a fearsome symbol of this wild and dangerous land.

Large-scale farming and deforestation saw the wolf rapidly losing its hunting and breeding grounds. But war, rebellion and fighting between settlers and a growing number of Irish rebels provided rich pickings for wolves - preying on livestock and scavenging on the fallen. The terrified settlers called their new home "Wolfland".

The first programme in the series looks at the traces and tracks the wolf has left with us in Ireland, within the landscape and place names, the language, the literature and the mythology. Roaming the land for some 20,000 years the wolf was certainly feared, but also revered in Ireland. It was a creature that symbolised strength and courage to the native Irish, but to the arriving settlers from the 16th century onwards the wolf was a dark and savage creature representing all that needed tamed in Ireland.

"In Good Hands", almost finished and ready for broadcast in May of 2013 and Living the wildlife in the edit and will be on air RTÉ One Tuesday 26th Febuary to kick start "RTE goes wild season". It's been a busy year but we have 2 great series to show for it!

cameramonkey wrote: »

Programme on Irish wolves RTE1 now.