Secrets of the Irish Landscape

Derek Mooney follows in the footsteps of one of Ireland's greatest unsung scientists, Robert Lloyd Praeger, to uncover the true extent of the Republic's remarkable landscape. In 1895, the explorer charted the distribution of all plants across the country, compiling a one-man census of the entire Irish flora. With the help of Praeger's 1937 book, The Way That I Went, Mooney embarks on an epic journey around the country and further into Europe, looking back 20,000 years to unravel the true enigma surrounding the area's unique and stunning eco-systems.

In this episode Derek discovers how humans and particularly Ireland's first farmers around 6,000 years ago, completely altered the Irish landscape. New scientific research now shows how the population of Ireland was almost wiped out by dramatic weather events around 4,000 years ago.

Derek Mooney discovers how the modern Irish landscape came to be. As waves of invaders and new ideas were imported into Ireland, each phase of our history leaves indelible marks on the land, none more so than the famine, and we are only now fully understanding the impact that this tragic event had on creating the modern landscape.