Anja Murray

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#Anja Murray

Anja Murray is an ecologist and broadcaster, she is a regular presenter on ‘Eco Eye’ on RTÉ 1 and writes the weekly ‘Nature File’ on RTÉ Lyric FM.

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

<p>The shape and pattern of the brimstone butterfly’s wings look uncannily like a leaf, and their sulphur yellow colouring is excellent camouflage among freshly emerging, spring green leaves where they like to linger. Brimstone as a name is thought to come from the association of sulphur with the fires of hell. <span class="contextmenu emphasis CaptionCredit">Picture: Nick Edge/PA</span>
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outdoors

Solar power: Sunny April weather sees butterflies take flight

Whether on the farm, in the garden, or the council-owned and managed open spaces, every patch of green space can play a role in helping butterflies and biodiversity, mainly by facilitating native flowering plants

<p>A short-snouted seahorse (Hippocampus hippocampus) in the thickets of sea grass in the Black Sea in Odessa Bay. There have been only seven records of the short-snouted seahorse here, the earliest from 1837 and the latest dates to 1956. <span class="contextmenu emphasis CaptionCredit">Picture: iStock</span>
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outdoors

Anja Murray: Ireland’s seahorses and the seagrass meadows they call home

<p>Anja Murray: "Ireland’s ongoing struggle with water pollution — driven largely by nutrient enrichment from intensive agriculture - is now seriously jeopardising the viability of webs of life." Picture: iStock.</p>

outdoors

Anja Murray: How community-driven conservation action can help Irish otter populations

Curled Octopus in a Rock Pool, Wicklow, Ireland

outdoors

Unfurling the changing fate of octopuses in Irish waters

Bumble Bee

outdoors

The many ways to be a wild bee — and what we can do to help them

wetland scenery

outdoors

For peat's sake: We cannot afford to let the damage to our wetlands continue

Undervalued and overlooked: Scrub is nature’s way of rewilding — here's how

Undervalued and overlooked: Scrub is nature’s way of rewilding — here's how

Whatever the type of landscape, scrub habitats are just as significant as more celebrated hedgerows, offering a similar suite of benefits

Wed, 11 Mar, 2026

Country Diary Archive : Western European hedgehog

Hedgehogs are waking up from their long winter slumber but they cannot move about as they need

In March, hedgehogs are waking up from hibernation and will soon begin venturing out from their cosy nests in search of food

Wed, 04 Mar, 2026

Ants — the tiny architects of a healthy planet

Ants — the tiny architects of a healthy planet

With often secret civilisations beneath our feet ants have sophisticated social lives and even practiced agriculture millions of years before humans

Wed, 11 Feb, 2026

Flowers are great... until they bloom at the wrong time

Flowers are great... until they bloom at the wrong time

Results of the 16th annual New Year Plant Hunt show how our weather is changing, impacting flowering times and other wildlife — birds, bees, butterflies, and a wide range of pollinators — that depend on our wild plants

Wed, 28 Jan, 2026

Summing up our swan squad successes

Summing up our swan squad successes

The whooper swan is thriving which is certainly something to celebrate and support

Wed, 21 Jan, 2026

Winter weather Jan 8th 2026

Iridescent kingfishers need clear rivers — can we help?

We need to rethink our disregard for water quality, and to get busy restoring Ireland’s rivers to good health

Wed, 14 Jan, 2026

Pond reconstruction

Is 2026 the year you build a pond or plant native trees and hedges?

When so much around the globe is coming apart we need things to ground and reassure us. The reality of lengthening days and unfolding seasons can do just this

Wed, 07 Jan, 2026

International project aims to decode whale communication

International project aims to decode whale communication

Listening to our animal kin — some experts predict that the capacity and technology to understand and talk back to non-human mammals will be developed by the end of the decade, just a few short years away

Wed, 31 Dec, 2025

A beach walk with a little more — explore your shore

A beach walk with a little more — explore your shore

Through the Big Beach Biodiversity Survey, everyone visiting an Irish beach this winter is invited to record marine life washed ashore by the tides and the storms

Wed, 24 Dec, 2025

POV of young woman relaxing at home reading a book lying on sofa

Anja Murray: My favourite wildlife and environment books of 2025

Photography books, community stories, fresh perspectives and inspiring solutions to environmental crises — plenty to choose from with this selection

Wed, 17 Dec, 2025

Aquatic habitats in such poor condition even adaptable species like herons may struggle

Aquatic habitats in such poor condition even adaptable species like herons may struggle

Since the start of this millennium, Ireland has lost around half a million waterbirds — almost 40% of the total population

Wed, 17 Dec, 2025

Anja Murray: Nitrates not giving our rivers a chance to breathe

Anja Murray: Nitrates not giving our rivers a chance to breathe

Why is it now widely considered acceptable to heap pollutants in to lakes until the ecosystems they once sustained are eliminated?

Wed, 03 Dec, 2025

Rewilding for nature recovery

Rewilding for nature recovery

It's easy to see the benefits of letting natural processes take the reins

Wed, 26 Nov, 2025

Autumn weather Sep 1st 2022

Anja Murray: Epic migration of Atlantic salmon in jeopardy

Wild salmon can leap as high as three metres. Perhaps our ancient forbears were aware of the benefits of the rich fatty acids found in salmon flesh that can help our brains to function well, which would explain the folklore association between salmon, stamina and knowledge

Wed, 12 Nov, 2025

BRAZIL-CLIMATE-COP30-BELEM-PREPARATION

COP30: Why we need to approach climate action with nature in mind

The viability of our collective future depends on us all using our power to ensure we change the trajectory we are on

Wed, 05 Nov, 2025

Anja Murray: Seagrass meadows and other Irish marine life marvels

Anja Murray: Seagrass meadows and other Irish marine life marvels

Dublin lifeguard and diver, Gordon Leonard, saw a seagrass bed just at the shore in Sandycove, County Dublin. He reported the find to Coastwatch Ireland who identified the seagrass he had found as a species previously unknown to the east coast

Thu, 30 Oct, 2025

Anja Murray: Is a river alive? And if so, does it have rights?

Anja Murray: Is a river alive? And if so, does it have rights?

Two new EPA reports document an ongoing steady decline in water quality across Ireland's lakes, rivers and estuaries as pollution levels continue to rise. A whopping 44% of Irish rivers now have nitrogen concentrations that exceed healthy limits

Wed, 22 Oct, 2025

Autumn sun shining through tree canopy

Anja Murray: Public land is the low-hanging fruit for nature restoration

The Nature Restoration Law is about proactive restoration, not just within protected sites, but more holistically and throughout the landscape. Rivers and their floodplains; native woodlands; peat bogs and reclaimed peat soils; urban areas and pollinators are all part of the approach to restore the ecosystems we all depend on

Wed, 15 Oct, 2025

large school of mackerel

Once 'sustainable' mackerel stocks are drastically declining

While overfishing is the main problem for mackerel stocks, climate change has been having an impact too

Wed, 08 Oct, 2025

Geese taken over the soccer field

Anja Murray: Charismatic waterbirds arriving from afar this winter

One of the best things about October is the return of wintering birds, each species with their own backstory and life strategies

Wed, 01 Oct, 2025

Common / Bandit Pipistrelle Bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus) hunting at twilight, Berwickshire, Scotland, June 2008

Autumn Equinox and nocturnal animals

From here on in, we will have more darkness than daylight, making this a good time to consider the lives of wild creatures most active at nighttime. Apart from bats, moths and owls, many other creatures also become active as light fades from the landscape. Foxes, badgers, mice, and pine martens are primarily nocturnal, and half of all invertebrates are adapted to life in darkness

Wed, 24 Sep, 2025

Testing the water of a reservoir for the content of microbes .

Societal acceptance of severe pollution and fish kills

Isn't it about time we make deadly nutrient seepages and toxic chemical spills a thing of the past?

Wed, 17 Sep, 2025

Connemara Coast

Colourful or camouflaged, crabs can live up to 20 years of age

Crabs constitute Ireland’s third most valuable seafood export, with an export value in excess of €60 million per year

Wed, 10 Sep, 2025

Hands off nature — vital to defend the laws protecting nature and people

Hands off nature — vital to defend the laws protecting nature and people

Here's how to make your voice count and state your opposition to the proposed weakening of environmental laws across Europe — the European Commission has launched a consultation about the “simplification of administrative burdens in environmental legislation” which runs until September 10

Thu, 04 Sep, 2025

Seal pups on Farne Islands

Anja Murray: Life and death among Ireland's wild seals

These gorgeous baby Grey seals are born on beaches from September onwards... but going too close will do them more harm than good

Wed, 27 Aug, 2025

Long Eared Owl

Anja Murray: The sounds of long-eared owls

Long-eared owls are recognisable by their large ear tufts — feathers that stand up on their head where you might imagine their ears should be. But these ear tufts are not ears at all, they don’t even have a role in hearing...

Wed, 30 Jul, 2025

Anja Murray: Don't reject the generosity of wild self-sown flowering plants

Anja Murray: Don't reject the generosity of wild self-sown flowering plants

The now widely recognised problems facing insect pollinators are closely linked to losses of such native forage plants in our landscapes over the course of the past 100 years

Wed, 30 Jul, 2025

Anja Murray: Sturgeon sighting — the first here in decades

Anja Murray: Sturgeon sighting — the first here in decades

A 180cm sturgeon was caught and released off the coast of Kerry this summer... they are considered extinct in Irish waters so this is significant

Mon, 21 Jul, 2025

Closeup of silver birch tree trunk on a blue sky background with clouds. Betula pendula

Why we need more trees in urban areas — and 10 native species to plant

Here is a list of native tree species well suited to urban planting

Wed, 02 Jul, 2025

Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera), at its favorite spot near bodies of water.

Even 'pretty' invasives are not welcome for very good reasons

Ecological and economic damage can reverberate through ecosystems when invasive species become established — and some such as oak processionary moth caterpillars can cause physical harm to humans and pets

Wed, 25 Jun, 2025

Anja Murray: Now is your chance to visit great grassland sites across the island of Ireland

Anja Murray: Now is your chance to visit great grassland sites across the island of Ireland

Sensitive approaches, such as light grazing or a late harvest of hay, means that these wildflowers and their dependant creatures have space and time to complete their life-cycle, whether flowering and setting seed or nesting, egg laying and fledging young

Wed, 18 Jun, 2025

Anja Murray: Radical changes required to let the oceans recover

Anja Murray: Radical changes required to let the oceans recover

We don’t tend to consider just how much we impact the health of ocean ecosystems with our activities. For most of history, humans have rightly considered the oceans as being far too large for us to ever inflict much of an influence upon

Wed, 11 Jun, 2025

big oak in the sunlight

Anja Murray: I spent an entire day in one of Ireland's ancient oak woodlands

Worth so much more than dark, lifeless industrially-managed tree plantations, we need to look after these rich ecosystems which are bathed in light and have a rich soundtrack of birdsong and pockets of primroses throughout

Wed, 14 May, 2025

eurasian skylark

Larks — nearly invisible in a sunny sky but worth listening for

'The music soars within the little lark, And the lark soars.' Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Wed, 07 May, 2025

Pope Francis's powerful call to ecological action

Pope Francis's powerful call to ecological action

The late pope wrote with fluency about the ways in which our consumer obsessed culture has been driving Earth’s planetary systems toward collapse

Wed, 30 Apr, 2025

Chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocora

Clever, playful, and communicative — lots to like about the crow family

Each of the seven crow species that occur in Ireland have a lot of very similar traits, including an impressive ability to reason and to learn

Wed, 23 Apr, 2025

Anja Murray: Off-leash dogs can cause havoc with wild birds

Anja Murray: Off-leash dogs can cause havoc with wild birds

Dogs running through areas where birds are feeding or nesting can stress, exhaust and even kill threatened species

Wed, 16 Apr, 2025

Butterfly numbers in freefall as biodiversity decline unfolds at pace

Butterfly numbers in freefall as biodiversity decline unfolds at pace

The absence of butterflies in 2024 has been devastatingly obvious, even in the most important, flower-rich areas in Ireland. And despite knowing that conservation works, the outlook for our butterflies here is bleak

Wed, 09 Apr, 2025

A pussy-willow flowering in the early spring. The close-up of shrub blossoms against the blurry background.

Anja Murray: Nature helps us stay grounded in challenging times

In the past week, I’ve felt especially overwhelmed by world events. And once again, I’ve had to relearn that one of the most powerful antidotes to managing distressing feelings is spending time in nature

Wed, 26 Mar, 2025

Urban Fox

Anja Murray: Urban fox cubs a reassuring phenomenon that wild species can adapt to human sprawl

Lots of people feel affection for their neighbourhood foxes and actively encourage and feed them

Wed, 19 Mar, 2025

Spraying weeds in the garden

It's not too late to avoid a litany of missed opportunities to look after wildlife habitats

Poisoning weeds, ripping out hedges, and planting 'pretty' but ecologically useless non-native flowers and shrubs make for neat and tidy parks and gardens that harm bees, frogs, fish, and wild birds

Wed, 12 Mar, 2025

Anja Murray: Spring migration is tough enough — here's how we can help

Anja Murray: Spring migration is tough enough — here's how we can help

And volunteers are needed now for The Countryside Bird Survey... the data collected is how we track the changes in populations of our common and widespread birds over time

Wed, 05 Mar, 2025

Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola)

Anja Murray: Shy — and red-listed — woodcock still on legal hunting list

In 2023, the Government reviewed which birds can legally hunted in Ireland and when. The review resulted in four species of duck being removed from the quarry list — birds that can be shot during open season. Many expected that woodcock would also be removed from this list because of its red-listed conservation status, but not so

Wed, 26 Feb, 2025

Anja Murray: Rewilding makes space for nature to thrive

Anja Murray: Rewilding makes space for nature to thrive

All across the country, families, farmers and communities are embarking on their own adventures with rewilding

Wed, 19 Feb, 2025