Mooney is Back from the Brink to shine a light on Europe's most endangered species

A second instalment of Back from the Brink, co-produced by the Mooney Goes Wild team, looks at the hard work of conservationists in protecting a wide range of animals in 11 countries

Derek Mooney: RTÉ radio veteran fronts the Cork-produced special on Europe's endangered species.

RTÉ has this week announced the return of Back from the Brink, a one-hour special highlighting the work of conservationists around Europe amid the Covid crisis, hosted and co-produced by RTÉ Radio veteran Derek Mooney.

Produced in association with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), this Sunday's special follows up from the first Back from the Brink programme, premiered on RTÉ in December 2019, and features more uplifting and inspirational conservation stories, near and far.

Close to home, the doc looks at efforts to help the Roseate Tern, one of Europe’s rarest seabirds, whose largest European is on tiny Rockabill Island, off the coast of north Co. Dublin, monitored around the clock by a team of wardens from BirdWatch Ireland.

These efforts, and the provision of special nesting boxes, have seen the Rockabill tern project help to repopulate other parts of Europe with Roseate Terns.

Derek Mooney, on Rockabill Island, surrounded by endangered Roseate Terns.

Meanwhile, in the North, we see how natural foes have found common cause, as the dramatic recovery of the predatory Pine Marten is finally changing the fortunes of the threatened Red Squirrel by pushing out the invasive non-native Grey Squirrel, restoring woodland ecosystems in the process.

Derek Mooney, presenter of Back from the Brink, said: “The past year has been unlike any we have ever known. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought lockdowns, social distancing and has altered our very way of life. More people than ever before have turned to nature and have found comfort in the natural world. Many of us have also observed first-hand the effects that we humans have had on the creatures with which we share this planet, and also, when human activity stops for a while, how they can bounce back.

“I am all too aware that with increased awareness of the damage we humans have caused to our planet comes a growing feeling of helplessness. Nature is being destroyed before our very eyes, and the overriding implication is that it is all very sad, but it is too late to stop it. That is nonsense. The battle can be, and is being, won every day by dedicated conservationists. Extinction can be halted, and even reversed, and this programme proves it."

• Back from the Brink airs this Sunday, March 28, on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.