Chris O'Dowd on rediscovering a love for nature as actor launches Robin Redbreast Day 2022

The 43-year-old spoke about his new-found love for the outdoors, particularly during the Covid-19 lockdown

Redbreast Irish Whiskey reunited with Chris O'Dowd to raise a glass and funds to help support common birds. 

Nestled in the Cavan countryside, and perched on the shores of Lough Oughter, Killykeen Forest is home to lots of species of birds and other wildlife — and this week, they were joined by actor and comedian, Chris O’Dowd.

Chris O’Dowd may not necessarily be the first person who comes to mind when we think of nature, but the 43-year-old, who lives in Los Angeles, has been rediscovering his love for the outdoors in recent years. The father of two says he has found that time in nature helps him to feel less stressed.

“I think it’s a middle-aged thing where you start going into nature a lot more,” O’Dowd explains during his stay in the Cavan countryside, adding that he spent a lot of time outdoors with his dog during the Covid-19 lockdown.

I’m reminded of the early days of the pandemic when the Roscommon native took to Twitter to ask the people of the West of Ireland for some “big sexy photos” of Irish landscape to help cure his homesickness.

He continues: “I had this conversation with a guy at a wedding recently. He runs a forest school down in Wexford and we were talking about how I’ve been enjoying going out into nature much more as I’ve been getting older and it just kind of makes me feel less stressed."

The Hollywood star was speaking as a Redbreast Whiskey ambassador ahead of Robin Redbreast Day today. This year’s celebration took place at the picturesque Cabu in Killykeen Forest Park.

Earlier in the day, the Moone Boy star, who also brought his parents along to Co Cavan, showed great enthusiasm as he joined Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland for birdwatching in Killykeen forest — but not before a couple of “Redbreast” and “Tit” jokes, in true O’Dowd fashion.

In celebration of the Robin Redbreast, the event also saw a spectacular performance by Fidget Feet Aerial Dance, reflecting the overall mission.

In its second year, Robin Redbreast Day highlights Redbreast’s partnership with BirdLife International, with the aim of helping to keep the common bird common. As nearly half of all bird species are now at risk, there is a need for a universal acceptance that preventing extinction, and keeping common birds common, is vital to our own survival.

When asked why this particular cause stands outs, O’Dowd said: “I think it’s so hard to know what to do. In the greater scheme of things, we’re being told everything is [about to] f*cking collapse around you and I don’t know how to stop everything from collapsing around me, but I think we can help birds.” 

To mark Robin Redbreast Day this year, O'Dowd will feature alongside a robin in a new video highlighting the cause. For every share and like the video receives, 25 cents will be donated to the global conservation charity BirdLife International which uses the funds for its vital work in species and habitat protection, advocacy and conservation.

Christopher Sands from Birdlife International added that the campaign has been “extraordinarily important” to them.

“As Chris [O’Dowd] said, it becomes difficult for average people to capture what's happening around them in terms of the devastating effect of how we’re destroying the planet and birds are not just a big part of that, birds are an enormously important part of that,” he said.

We need people to understand that nature isn’t nice to have, it’s absolutely essential to our survival on the planet.

When asked if he sees it as becoming a long-term partnership between himself and the Robin Redbreast, O’Dowd said he hopes so. “I mean, I don’t know what kind of company he keeps but I hope so. The disappearance of the common bird isn’t going to go away — and people seem to like whiskey,” he laughed.