Donegal features prominently in first edition of Ireland’s Wild Islands 

Three years in the making,  Ireland’s Wild Islands is a spectacular three part series that features the wildlife wonders of Ireland’s Atlantic islands, with a special interest on the Donegal islands in the first episode.

In Episode One which airs this Sunday on RTE 1 at 6.30pm presenter Corkman Eoin Warren starts his island journeys on Rathlin where he witnesses one of the most extraordinary leaps of faith undertaken by any animal on the planet - flightless chicks jumping 300 feet from their cliff ledges down to the ocean and freedom.

The episode also features Malin Head, Inishtrahull and Tory Island.

Another Eoin, working hard in the background as production manager and with a more direct Donegal connection is Eoin Dillon from Bundoran, whose interest peaked in this line of work after graduating with a Science degree specialising in zoology.

The Crossing the Line production is a co production with RTÉ, Love Nature and ARTE.

Based in County Mayo, Crossing the Line is a leading international documentary production company making highly crafted films featuring powerful stories on subjects from wildlife to science to sport and history

Eoin Warner on Galway Hooker boat - Host of Ireland's Wild Islands © John Murray 2023

The first programme then heads west for Malin Head and Inishtrahull meeting Basking Sharks  and Dolphins en route before witnessing a remarkable breeding display of endangered Corncrakes on Tory island - filmed for the first time in Ireland. 

Then it's south to Achill Island and the story of the Irish Stoat - one of the few predators found on Ireland’s western isles. This first stage of his island odyssey ends at Achill’s beautiful Keem Bay - recently discovered by Hollywood and the site of the most successful Basking Shark fishery on the planet.

Episode 2 sees Eoin continue his journey south from Mayo to Clare - featuring the extraordinary battles of breeding Grey Seals on the Inishkea islands; a wondrous native woodland on Clare Island and as he sails his Galway Hooker through Connemara’s turquoise waters - he finds deserted islands home to Skylarks and on the Aran Islands  - Ireland’s only native reptile. Then Eoin experiences the most remarkable wild experience of his life -  dozens of Basking Sharks off the Clare coast engaged in an extraordinary breeding display - a truly amazing encounter being seen nowhere else on the planet.

Bottlenose Dolphin Ireland Episode 2 © George Karbus 2023

Episode 3 sees Eoin back in his Galway Hooker and sailing to the islands off  County Kerry before heading south into his home waters off Cork and the end of his journey at Fastnet Rock. En route he visits Kerry’s Maharees Islands - home in summer to the greatest travellers on the planet - Arctic Terns who can migrate 50,000 miles a year and return every summer to raise their chicks on these low islands in Tralee Bay. Sailing his  Hooker past Brandon head Eoin pays homage to St Brendan the Navigator before featuring the giant Fin and Humpback whales that hunt in these Kerry  waters every year. Then south to perhaps the greatest wildlife spectacle in Ireland - the 1000 or more Grey Seals that haul up on the beach of Great Blasket Island. 

Then on to Skellig Michael - its monastery home to a secretive bird that comes every year from Antarctic waters to raise its chicks in the monk’s ancient cells. Finally Bantry Bay and the White Tailed Eagles that now make it their home, before the final chapter - swimming with magnificent Blue Shark in the warm Gulf Stream waters off Fastnet Rock.

A Crossing the Line production in co production with RTÉ, Love Nature and ARTE, Ireland’s Wild Islands airs on 6:30pm, Sundays on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player