#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

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

Anja Murray: Irish species at risk of extinction
Anja Murray: Irish species at risk of extinction
Ireland has already lost many species, especially as a result of rapid deforestation in the 1600 and 1700s, and persecution of top predators such as wolves and eagles

Wed, 12 Feb, 2025

Idyllic landscape with birch forest and farm house at summer evening in Finland
Anja Murray: Now is the ideal time for planting trees
Settling a sapling in to the ground in February and March gives a young tree a chance to settle in before the sap begins to rise, ushering a new season of growth

Wed, 05 Feb, 2025

We can't stop storms coming but we can be more ready for them
We can't stop storms coming but we can be more ready for them
Our national approach to forest management needs to change dramatically to help us respond better to the increasing frequency and severity of big storms

Tue, 28 Jan, 2025

Lady’s Island Lake has enormous significance, but its lagoon ecosystems are collapsing
Lady’s Island Lake has enormous significance, but its lagoon ecosystems are collapsing
Wexford's Lady’s Island Lake has enormous ecological, spiritual and historical significance.

Wed, 22 Jan, 2025

Fog and dramatic sky over a swamp with sun reflecting in a puddle
Help at hand for repairing damage to Ireland’s blanket bogs
A new manual (links below) offers practical guidance for farmers and other landowners who want to undertake restoration actions on their land

Wed, 15 Jan, 2025

Wood mouse and hawthorn berries
Anja Murray: House mice give other creatures — like wood mice — a bad name
On the island of Ireland, mice greatly outnumber people, there are probably as many as 10 million wood mice whiskering their way about at this very moment, as well as another 10 million or more house mice

Wed, 08 Jan, 2025

Adult nestling barn swallows (Hirundo rustica)
Anja Murray: Making space for nature in our own plot of land
It won’t change the world, but it may just be enough to prevent another bee, hoverfly or butterfly species from disappearing in your townland. Catering to the needs of threatened wildlife will resonate in the values of those around you as well as bringing joy in 2025 and beyond

Wed, 01 Jan, 2025

Bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum
Why it's so important not to disturb hibernating bats
Female bats have the incredible physiological ability to control when they get pregnant. They mate at the end of the summer, before entering hibernation, but don't actually become pregnant until the spring when they wake

Wed, 25 Dec, 2024

Populations of humpback whales, previously devastated by whaling, making a comeback
Populations of humpback whales, previously devastated by whaling, making a comeback
It is now not unusual to see humpback whales on whale-watching trips off the south and west coast here. A new book, Wake of the Whale, documents the history of whaling in Ireland

Wed, 18 Dec, 2024

Biologists Examining Dirt and It's Acidity
Digging into why our soil is unhealthy and how we can fix it
As we are discovering the complexity and fragility of healthy soil, the importance of protecting our soils becomes ever clearer

Wed, 18 Dec, 2024

Anja Murray: The return of woodpeckers is a cause for celebration
Anja Murray: The return of woodpeckers is a cause for celebration
True to their exceptional nature, woodpeckers' remarkable comeback gives us a glimpse into the potential for ecological recovery, a nudge to remind us that when woodlands return, their wild residents are often able to recover lost ground too

Mon, 09 Dec, 2024

Hen harrier
Anja Murray: Will the law save Irish birds, which are so threatened?
Species such as the puffin, snipe, hen harrier, kestrel and curlew are plummeting toward extinction here, and even legally protected conservation sites are lacking urgent habitat restoration actions

Wed, 04 Dec, 2024

Gray wolf cubs
Anja Murray: We have to take on the role of the wolf in managing our woodlands
After a reign of more than 25,000 years in Ireland, the last Irish wolf was said to have been killed in 1786, on the slopes of Mount Leinster in County Carlow. The ecological ramifications of eradicating woodlands and wolves from the landscape have been enormous

Wed, 13 Nov, 2024

Vote Green!
Anja Murray: Top nature questions to raise with election hopefuls
Decisions made now will have huge impact on people, land and nature, far into the future

Wed, 06 Nov, 2024

Fallen autumn leaves in the park
Anja Murray: So-called 'leaf litter' doesn't mean gardens need a clean sweep
There is a very good biodiversity case for leaving the leaves alone

Wed, 09 Oct, 2024

MARINE GROUP RALLY
Anja Murray: What's the delay with the Marine Protected Areas bill?
A recent major study revealed that globally, seabirds have declined overall by 70% in the last 50 years and are currently one of the most threatened groups of birds in the world — so delays in publishing the long-awaited Marine Protected Areas bill are alarming

Wed, 02 Oct, 2024

Mysterious mushrooms — the largest living organism on our planet
Mysterious mushrooms — the largest living organism on our planet
There are about 20 species here that are both common and worth eating. But to stay safe, follow the basic rule of never eating a fungus that you cannot positively identify without any doubt as being an edible species

Wed, 25 Sep, 2024

Yew Berries
Deadly yew — used in witch's potions and to deter cattle from graveyards
Yew trees were once widespread throughout Ireland. Irish names for Yew include Iúr and Eó. Mayo is anglicised from ‘Maigh Eó’ which translates as ‘The Plain of the Yew’; Terenure comes from ‘Tír an Iúr’, ‘Land of the Yew’; and Youghal comes from Eochaill, a yew wood

Wed, 18 Sep, 2024

Anja Murray: A lot more to see in the night skies when it's really dark
Anja Murray: A lot more to see in the night skies when it's really dark
Artificial light also makes many animals more vulnerable to other threats and less resilient to habitat loss or degradation

Wed, 11 Sep, 2024

Fields of Ireland
Anja Murray: Neat and tidy isn't always best when it comes to hedgerows
For all that we love our hedges, there’s a great deal of room for improvement in how well we could be managing them

Thu, 05 Sep, 2024

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