04-05-2025
Mayo TV company produces series on curious farm dog
Mayo television company GMarch TV has produced a new series featuring a farm dog for RTÉjr aimed at teaching viewers about the wonders of nature beneath their noses.
Blending live action puppetry and archive footage, 'Séamus Goes Wild' brings little ones on a fascinating journey into the world of Irish natural history, filmed on location in north Mayo.
'Séamus Goes Wild' starts on Monday, May 12 at 08:25, repeating at 6:40 on RTÉjr. Viewers are introduced to Séamus, an inquisitive and lovable little farm dog who lives with farmer Lily, Niamh McGrath from Sligo, and all the animals on Glenmore Farm.
A cheeky and curious pup, Séamus loves nothing more than sneaking away from his farm tasks to find exciting adventures in the wild.
The cute canine travels through woods, meadows, and along coasts and rivers, meeting all sorts of interesting creatures from pine martens, foxes, and minibeasts to kingfishers, squirrels, woodpeckers, and deer.
On every adventure, Séamus discovers fascinating facts about the natural world around him, such as that butterflies taste food with their feet, kingfishers eat 18 fish a day, and grey seals cannot swim when they are born.
Séamus is always full of questions and eager to dive headfirst into new adventures with boundless enthusiasm.
On his travels, he meets a pair of excitable pygmy goats, plays hide and seek with some fox cubs, and discovers that a caterpillar is really a baby butterfly in disguise.
The dog also makes friends with otters in the estuary and plays statues with a rather haughty heron. He learns that terrapins do not belong in an Irish river and hoverflies may look like bees but they do not sting.
Through Séamus, the young audience will gain a greater understanding of the nature that lies under their nose, whether it is seeing the wonder in a tiny bee or recognising the tweets of newly hatched baby birds, according to Gillian Marsh of GMarch.
Directed by Julian Hills, the series was produced by GMarsh TV for RTÉJnr and was filmed on location in the Crossmolina area of Co. Mayo, on the Owenmore and Glenmore estates, and also at Ross beach, Kilalla.
The puppeteer is Ray Cuddihy from Cork, who also presents 'Late Date' on RTÉ Radio 1.
GMarch's Gillian Marsh said: 'All wildlife footage came from our archive as we filmed the RTÉ natural history series 'Living the Wildlife' for eight years.'
''Séamus Goes Wild' was difficult to shoot, as we needed to film the puppet in similar light and always looking in the right direction of the wildlife. With the very wet summer last year, that was some ask.'
'I just wanted children to learn about wildlife in an entertaining way, making them aware about the nature that lives around them so when they walk in the forest they can hear the warning calls from birds, recognise a moor hen, a kingfisher, and so on, and become aware of their surroundings,' Marsh added.
