Éanna Ní Lamhna: 'I don’t have bad days - I’m a positive person'

Eanna Ni Lamhna. Photograph by John Kelly

WHEN I speak with Irish biologist and environmental consultant Éanna Ní Lamhna, she is at home in Terenure, Dublin, with her husband, John Harding, and her grandson, Shea, six, who is eager for us to wrap up so they can go and catch crabs.

She has plenty of work to do, particularly ahead of National Tree Day, on October 3. The annual event, sponsored by Spar and organised by the Tree Council of Ireland, offers schools free saplings. This year’s theme is ‘Trees are Magic’ and hawthorn is the chosen tree.

Ní Lamhna says, “This is a day when we celebrate trees. We look at the changing leaves. We look at the berries on them. We walk through the woodlands and hear the sounds of the leaves under our feet. All our senses are being catered for.”

Her new book, The Great Irish Biodiversity Book, will be released at the end of October. Ní Lamhna hopes it will educate people about the threats facing biodiversity in Ireland and, hopefully, encourage them to take action.

How do you keep fit?

I go hill walking and sea swimming, so that keeps me going. A couple of years ago, [my husband and I] decided to climb the highest peak in every county in Ireland, which we did. 

Then, we decided we’d do the highest mountains on these islands, climbing the highest one in Scotland, Ben Nevis, and the highest in Wales, Snowdon, and the highest in England, Scafell Pike in Lake District. We get great craic out of all this.

Do you have a morning routine?

I wake up and thank God I didn’t die in the night. My routine depends on what I’m doing. Sometimes I have to set the alarm, get up at half seven, have myself cleaned up and out the door and in the car before the traffic at eight. 

And other times, if I work at home, I might have a cup of tea in bed.

What are your healthiest eating habits?

I eat vegetables, I eat meat. I don’t eat anything after my dinner in the evening. I just have three meals a day. I don’t know if that’s a healthy eating habit, but that’s what I’m doing.

What are your guiltiest pleasures?

I don’t feel guilty about eating food. Half the world doesn’t have enough food. If I want to eat something, I eat it and enjoy it.

What keeps you awake at night?

My children are all grown up, but when they were in their late teens and 20s and out at night, I wouldn’t fall asleep until they came home. Now they’re gone, and I don’t know where they are. They have their own kids, so I don’t have to worry about them anymore, and I sleep all night. It’s great.

How do you relax?

I relax reading cookery books. I have loads. I have as many cookery books as wildlife and nature books.

What’s your dream meal?

A meal somebody else cooked for me.

What is your favourite smell?

I love the smell of babies. I love it when somebody gives me a baby to hold. The fragrant smell of their hair and skin is lovely.

When was the last time you cried?

I don’t cry. Crying is for kids who hurt their knees.

What is the best health advice you’ve ever been given?

Éamon de Buitléar had a great, long career in wildlife. He used to say that people who are outdoors all the time, looking at wildlife and flowers, will never suffer from depression.

What traits do you least like in others?

I hate it when people tease other people to get a rise out of them. Irish people are always doing that.

What traits do you least like about yourself?

The fact that I sound like I’m always giving out to people.

Do you pray?

No, I don’t.

What cheers you up if you’re having a bad day?

I’m very lucky that I don’t suffer from depression, and I don’t have bad days. In general, I’m a very positive person.

Has climate change impacted how you live your life?

Climate change has kept me in employment for the last 30 years. I’ve been talking about it, trying to get people to understand it, telling people it’s going to happen.

It’s just in the last year that it has actually dawned on people that climate change, even here in Ireland, has happened.

I gave up flying during covid and haven’t returned to it. I never buy things in the supermarket that come from Peru or strawberries at Christmas. I try to eat seasonally.

What quote inspires you most and why?

Mary Robinson said her father, a doctor who worked until he died at age 87, used to say, “Better to wear out than rust out.”

Where is your favourite place in the world?

I’m in good company wherever my family is.