The secret life of the Shannon

brian_t

Following on from the excellent The Secrets of the Irish Landscape next Sunday sees the start of The Secret Life of the Shannon.

A new series which brings viewers on a wonderful journey along the River Shannon.

The first episode is on Sunday, May 26 on RTE1 at 6.30pm followed by the second on June 2 at the same time.

Skid X

Just watched some clips of this on the news, some serious technology was used in the filming. It looks great.

Part one of two. Colin Stafford-Johnson explores the wildlife of Ireland's great river, camping on its banks, wandering its islands and paddling its many tributaries in his canoe. The presenter follows the activities in the area from dawn to dusk through four seasons, utilising the cutting-edge Phantom High Speed Camera, used in Christopher Nolan's film Inception, to slow down and capture fast-moving animals in all their glory. The footage features giant butterflies and dragonflies limbering up and taking off, kingfishers crashing into the water on their hunt for food, and the Daubenton's bat scooping insects from the gentle ripples

byte

So they decided to air it on a non-HD channel, RTE1... sigh. Don't know why they couldn've have showcased it on RTE2 HD instead.

emo72

Looks wonderful. Why wasn't this broadcast on rte 2? It was obviously filmed in hd.

Lady Chatterton

It's such a crying shame that they aren't broadcasting this on RTE 2HD, it's a wonderful programme.

DoctorBoo

I agree, top quality show. Great cinematography.

Benny_Cake

It's beautifully well made, a credit to everyone involved.

That was fabulous- well done to all involved. Easily up to David Attenborough standards.

Catalpa1

Yep stunning show

duckysauce

excellent show

Stavro Mueller

emo72 wrote: »

Looks wonderful. Why wasn't this broadcast on rte 2? It was obviously filmed in hd.

Because people don't know how to use their remote controls?

Go Harvey Go

cymbaline wrote: »

Because people don't know how to use their remote controls?

No, because the folks at Montrose have little or no sense. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

emo72

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

No, because the folks at Montrose have little or no sense. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

the only way i can see it logically is that they are planning to release it on bluray and dont want to broadcast it so they dont hurt potential sales. very shortsighted of them if thats the reason.

Stavro Mueller

I wonder is it something as boring as the perception that RTE1 is the flagship channel and that's where a prestige project like that will be shown. It's like programmes that start out life on BBC2 in the UK and get "promoted" to BBC1.

AnonoBoy

RTE 1 and RTE 2 have different people comissioning shows for them.

They don't just swap shows around between the channels easily.

Is there not an RTE 1 HD channel?

emo72

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Is there not an RTE 1 HD channel?

dont think so. rumours of one coming soon, but you'd have the check with the lads in the satellite forum.

M three

Good show.
Why that isn't made available on rte player to people overseas is beyond me. Have relatives in the USA who would love to see it, others who see it might even visit because of it. In the year of the gathering why not make it and the all Ireland finals available online as a once off?

M three

Wanted to leave positive feedback on rte.ie but when you click on more, and feedback, nothing happens.
Anyone else have this problem?
Hope it isnt the case that rte have the feedback option disabled on their site

brian_t

The second part is on RTE1 this evening at 6.30pm

In Programme Two Colin brings us to the source of the mighty river and its unassuming beginnings.

From here, it is a non-stop journey through breathtaking encounters with beautiful migrant Whooper Swans, Great Crested Grebes and Cormorants to name but a few.

An explosion of Starlings gathering at dusk is perhaps the greatest wildlife spectacle to be seen in Ireland.

Unseen and underwater we follow the mating antics of freshwater crayfish – argumentative male suitors fighting over females, protective mothers with their delicate babies.

In slow motion a Red Squirrel is transformed from a cute rodent to an arboreal acrobat whose mastery would match any leaping lemur in Madagascar.

290,000 tuned in to the first episode of this - RTE should be pleased.

Mckeon221

Can anyone please identify the fiddle piece played on the show , part two .
It is about 15 minutes into the show and begins with a young tree in the light . I have no idea how to find the name of this piece and I really want to learn it .
Any suggestions are much appreciated ,Conor

brian_t

Mckeon221 wrote: »

Can anyone please identify the fiddle piece played on the show , part two .
It is about 15 minutes into the show and begins with a young tree in the light . I have no idea how to find the name of this piece and I really want to learn it .
Any suggestions are much appreciated ,Conor

It was scored by Ronan Ó Snodaigh of Kila and features music from Kila but I can't help you any further.

http://www.kila.ie/

Skid X

Just finished watching the second and final part. It was a terrific programme and it's a shame there weren't a few more episodes. The Secret Life of the Shannon was a programme I would be proud to see broadcast abroad - I wouldn't say that about many Irish programmes.

It reminded me of the old programmes made by Éamon De Buitléar and Gerrit Van Gelderen. Hopefully we will see more similar Nature documentaries soon on RTE.

Also, RTE should give it a repeat in Primetime on RTE2 HD very soon.

Skid X

I see The Secret Life of The Shannon is repeated on RTE1 on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day (6.30pm both days)

Now that RTE1 is available in HD (on Sky, Saorview and Cable) hopefully it will look even better

ollaetta

Missed this first time round. Just finished watching the first part and it is spectacular. Well done to all concerned.

ThisRegard

ollaetta wrote: »

Missed this first time round. Just finished watching the first part and it is spectacular. Well done to all concerned.

Imagine how more so if they aired it on a HD channel that most people could get.

Luno

This looked amazing today on the RTE HD channel!

ollaetta

Glad to say the second programme was just as wonderful. Those scenes of the bird flocks weaving patterns were something else!

Cork boy 55

Magnificent, except the frog bit
more Irish nature shows RTE please

colmhd

Anyone remember a piece of music made entirely of bird song that was part of a Gerrit Van Gelderen programme some years back?