Monty Halls is back on our TV screens -this time on BBC2 – with his wildlife exploits and adventures. His first two series were based in Scotland and for this latest series he has headed south and made base on the spectacular Connemara coast of western Ireland.
His task over the 6 months is to help photoid the local dolphins and whales of the bay. He got off to a great start as well. On a training run of the rib that he will be using for his study he stumbled on a couple of dolphins and managed to get some useful shots of the fins.
Back at the dolphin conservation base the photos were used to identify that one of the dolphins and moved south along the coast over the last couple of years. So a good start to his work.
For me the highlight of the programme was when Monty went diving off the coast to feed the conger eels. It is certainly something I’m going to have to put on my list of things to do when diving. As Monty surfaced he said it was one of the best diving experiences he had ever had. Feeding these monsters of the reefs around Ireland certainly seemed like a fascinating thing to do.
Monty Halls was based at a small hamlet near to the fishing village of Roundstone over the summer months. It’s going to be interesting to see what sort of marine wildlife he is going to come across over this series of 6 programmes. The west coast of Ireland is one the migration route of many marine mammals and animals as they head north to the feeding grounds of the Arctic.
The seas around Ireland themselves are rich and fertile as we saw when he was diving and the seas were distinctly green and thick with algae.
Monty has already made his mark in the local community by coming third in a mussel cooking competition with his recipe of mussels cooked in cider and cider vinegar but he was unable to beat the local mussel cooking expert.
The wealth of wildlife around Connemara was evident as he drove down a road and came to a complete stop to watch and film two otters playing in a river running alongside the road. Something many wildlife photographers will wait patiently for hours to experience.
The next few weeks are going to be something to look forward to, if you missed the first programme watch it now in BBC iPlayer.
External links:
BBC iplayer: Monty Hall’s Great Irish Escape.
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group.
Monty Halls.
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