Stopping By Hedgerows

Alan Mee
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Nature
  • Updated Biweekly

Wandering through fields, stories, and time, Stopping by Hedgerows explores the layered landscape of the West of Ireland where nature, memory, and history intertwine. Each episode begins with a walk and unfolds into reflections on the wild and the vanished, the visible and the forgotten. From wolves and ravens to field names and folklore, join Alan Mee as he shares quiet stories suggested by the land itself.

  1. 2d ago

    a thousand paces

    A walk of a thousand paces, part nature observation, part a mythology of my own creation. Looking at the landscape through a different lens. Acknowledgements My thanks to Phil Barnett, Louise Mee and Micki Colbeck, whose generous reading improved this piece. This piece was deeply inspired by the Metrical Dindshenchas, a text compiled between the 11th and 14th centuries that records Ireland’s much older oral traditions.  https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T106500C.html  This episode draws inspiration from the Songlines of the Australian First Nations peoples, the oldest continuous narrative geography on Earth. I acknowledge their custodianship of a landscape where every path carries a living voice. https://deadlystory.com/page/culture/Life_Lore/Songlines  Acknowledgement is also given to the enduring creation narratives of the Haida Nation, who celebrate the figure of Raven, the masterful trickster whose curiosity coaxed humanity into being from a simple clamshell.  https://moa.ubc.ca/2020/01/the-raven-and-the-first-men-from-conception-to-completion/  Ethiopia, women washing at a well.  https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07015046 Flowing river. https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07031097  Wind. https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=NHU05012151  Raven. https://xeno-canto.org/346231  Wren alarm call. https://xeno-canto.org/692833  Song Thrush. https://xeno-canto.org/1082934  Stone Chat. https://xeno-canto.org/1135845  Chiffchaff. https://xeno-canto.org/566729 Willow Warbler. https://xeno-canto.org/1133423 Cuckoo. https://xeno-canto.org/653108  Long-tailed Tit. https://xeno-canto.org/1080201  Buzzard. https://xeno-canto.org/510736  Badger. https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=NHU05079106

    10 min

  2. May 6

    grass

    Mostly ignored, but silently growing all the time. The grass under our feet can be an unexpected source of much interest. Acknowledgements Identification guide to Ireland’s Grasses, National Biodiversity Data Centre. Grass by Carl Sandburg first appeared in ‘Cornhuskers’ in 1918.

    13 min

  3. Apr 15

    swallows arrive

    It is always special to welcome the swallows back after their long journey from the south. They have cpatured our imaginations for millennia, and there is much to learn about these fork-tailed beauties. Acknowledgments The relationship between nest location selection of Barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) and human activity and residence - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-50149-6 The Barn Swallow, Angela K. Turner - https://books.google.ie/books/about/The_Barn_Swallow.html?id=jsxXFkHXKXAC&redir_esc=y

    8 min

  4. Apr 4

    two-note troubadours

    Some birds have a simple calls but these often hold an iconic position in our collective memory. Let's listen to these two-note troubadours.  Acknoweldgements Great Tit https://xeno-canto.org/788731 Coal Tit https://xeno-canto.org/717705 Blue Tit https://xeno-canto.org/1070960 Common chiffchaff https://xeno-canto.org/637792 Willow warbler https://xeno-canto.org/915783Cuckoo https://xeno-canto.org/673118 Corncrake https://xeno-canto.org/810279 Phil Barnett, for his discussion on thsi topicRóisín Costello, Of corncrakes and Irish. https://irishpages.org/down-to-earth/?v=25400724d737https://www.corncrakelife.ie/Ręk, P. (2013). Acoustic location of conspecifics in a nocturnal bird: The corncrake Crex crex. Acta Ethologica, 17(1), 31–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-013-0155-3

    15 min

  5. Mar 11

    the sappers mark

    I explore how Ireland’s historical maps serve as more than just navigational tools, revealing the deep, often complex stories etched into our landscape. By retracing the steps of 19th-century surveyors, I examine the intersection of culture, colonial history, and personal memory. Acknowledgements Jim O’Connor for his local knowledge. https://www.facebook.com/jim.oconnor.33633344/posts/pfbid02mCyZZhexCAt3y76JnBtTcDqaiGgASsbGfQjwEK7GWCHLTFz3DUuKXDVxQ21HJ8E7l?comment_id=3294401454051542¬if_id=1769102767301634¬if_t=comment_mention&ref=notif William Anthony Smith, Thesis for PhD NUI Maynooth 2008 https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/7778/1/Smyth%202008.pdf Tailte Eireann https://osi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=1d1c28801e5542f88960fda8e9f6d686 O’ Donovan Field Name books https://www.mayo.ie/library/local-history/publications-photographs/historical-artifacts?fbclid=IwY2xjawPgRPdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETB5WEJIZFg2OVRHMXdMWmlZc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHhIylqYHwQqypXOBIGt1nUHS04dcuCZdPwJoGe7wO45k3HdW-rPzOCUumLP9_aem_ulbBLqJG3kdck6XmgJkkjg Digital Archive of Ireland’s Ordnance Survey - https://dri.ie/os200/spotlight/os200 Hubert Dreyfus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Dreyfus The Bog Shaman. Manchán Magan on John Moriarty https://open.spotify.com/show/31m0uD97rsj9i4q1ROdjvz?si=471f5663980f457c  https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07037386 https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=0009008 https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/search?q=07038006

    13 min

  6. Feb 25

    spring

    Spring a time of birth and life, but also of death. Seeing the signals, listening to the sounds. Acknowledgements BirdWatch Ireland, Buzzard Species Focus (2011) https://birdfact.com/articles/buzzard-nesting https://historycooperative.org/cailleach/ https://simonbarnesauthor.co.uk/books/birdwatching-with-your-eyes-closed/ Collared Dove https://xeno-canto.org/621403  Great Tit https://xeno-canto.org/1073555  Chaffinch https://xeno-canto.org/717558  Chiffchaff https://xeno-canto.org/561607  Willow Warbler https://xeno-canto.org/561607 Cuckoo https://xeno-canto.org/673118  Buff tailed bumble bee https://plant-evolution.org/buzz-pollination_sounds/080109-002.mp3

    13 min

  7. Feb 12

    of stones and soil

    We depend on the ground beneath our feet more than we realise, and it has moved more than we can imagine. Acknowledgments Music by Camron RooLivingstone, S.J., Cofaigh, C.O. and Evans, D.J.A. (2008) Glacial geomorphology of the central sector of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet. Journal of Maps, 4 (1). 358 - 377. ISSN: 1744-5647Geology of South Mayo Bedrock Map Series Sheet 11

    7 min

  8. Jan 28

    the well at Carn

    As the wheel turns toward St. Brigid’s Day and the ancient festival of Imbolc, I mark the traditional arrival of spring with a visit to a local holy well. Join me as we explore the intersection of landscape, ritual, and history. A special note of thanks to Jim O'Connor for his knowledge and poetry reading. Acknowledgements Poetry remains the copyright of Jim O’Connor Cameron Roo - musicJohn O’Donovan’s 1838 Ordnance Survey Letters of County Mayo, edited by Rev. Michael O’Flanagan (1927) Vol 2 page 456.Celeste Ray, Sewanee, The University of the South https://new.sewanee.edu/our-faculty-staff/celeste-ray/  Constance Jones; James D. Ryan (2006). Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Infobase Publishing. p. 472. https://sound-effects.bbcrewind.co.uk/ Voices from festival in Mali celebrating goddess Nyale Tribal deer dance North America  Church bells - Ammassalik, Greenland

    14 min
See All (20)

About

Wandering through fields, stories, and time, Stopping by Hedgerows explores the layered landscape of the West of Ireland where nature, memory, and history intertwine. Each episode begins with a walk and unfolds into reflections on the wild and the vanished, the visible and the forgotten. From wolves and ravens to field names and folklore, join Alan Mee as he shares quiet stories suggested by the land itself.

Information

  • Creator
    Alan Mee
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Alan Mee
  • Show Website
    Stopping By Hedgerows