Secrets of the Irish Landscape

Standing by a small pool near Roundstone bog in the west of Ireland, any first-time European botanist would be both confused and startled by the mixture of plant types. The pools from which grow American Pipewort and Water Lobelia, are fringed by Spanish heathers, while the rocky knolls over which Siberian Juniper straggles are also abode to two Pyrenean plants...

Derek discovers how humans and particularly Ireland's first farmers around 6,000 years ago, completely altered the Irish landscape. New scientific research now shows how the population of Ireland was almost wiped out by dramatic weather events around 4,000 years ago.

Derek Mooney discovers how the modern Irish landscape came to be. As waves of invaders and new ideas were imported into Ireland, each phase of our history leaves indelible marks on the land, nor more so than the famine, and we are only now fully understanding the impact that this tragic event had on creating the modern landscape.