A County Limerick farm run by a grandmother and granddaughter is featured in a new TG4 series, Caomhnóirí na Talún, which began last night (Wednesday, 8.30pm).
It follows the farm of Catherine and Hannah Quinn-Mulligan of Croom, along with five others over the course of a year as they farm with nature.
The cameras follow as these farmers create and conserve habitats on their farms, pioneer new ideas and try to find a way to protect wildlife and their living.
Organic farmer Hannah works in partnership with her grandmother Catherine, where Hannah has been increasing habitats and trialing new farming practices to help nature.
Here, beneath Tory Hill, the pair breed pedigree Hereford cattle, keep some Jerseys and now operate a micro-dairy of just four Friesian cows with a farm shop selling eggs, yoghurt and ice-cream.
Hannah has a long-held interest in farming for nature.
Over the years on the farm, she has maintained eight acres of wetlands as a valuable habitat for birds and wildlife, put in new ponds, bird boxes for kestrel, swift and barn owl and planted a thousand oak trees.
During filming, Hannah was in her first year of an NPWS farm plan scheme which encourages novel approaches to farming for the environment – and one of these sees Hannah attempt to attract otters back to the farm by building an otter holt!
Like many farmers, Hannah also works off-farm. Her other day job is as an award-winning journalist and radio reporter, Hannah writes for the Irish Times and has a weekly column in the Farming Independent.
Hannah also founded the Women in Agriculture Stakeholder Group – a voluntary group that successfully campaigned for the first agricultural supports specifically for women in Ireland.