{"id":4107,"date":"2026-07-08T12:22:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tocharwetlands.ie\/?p=4107"},"modified":"2026-07-08T12:22:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:22:51","slug":"where-the-curlew-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tocharwetlands.ie\/ga\/community-stories\/where-the-curlew-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"Where the Curlew Calls\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mapping our changing relationship with the wetlands<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Helen Shaw, T\u00f3char Stories<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was poet Jane Clarke<\/a> who came up with the title \u2018Where the Curlew Calls\u2019 for our podcast <\/a>and the T\u00f3char Stories <\/a>book we\u2019re bringing together for publication with Lilliput Press<\/a> in 2027. Jane, who grew up surrounded by bogs in rural South Roscommon, collaborated with us on the Between the Sights of the Sun event in the Seamus Heaney exhibition<\/a> at the National Library in July last year and she has written an essay for the book retracing her own roots with the bogland through a walk at Cloonlarge Bog, Kilteevan <\/a> – a nature reserve and bog trail where we have been working with the local community <\/a>across the last two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you enter the village of Kilteevan there\u2019s a beautiful placemaking sign featuring the curlew as its icon (an initiative by the unstoppable Eileen Fahey<\/a>) and Jane was lucky enough to hear one at the end of her walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Kilteevan village entrance placemaking sign (photo Helen Shaw January 2025)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In her essay for the forthcoming book Jane writes: \u201cThough only seven miles from my childhood home, I\u2019ve never been on Cloonlarge Bog before. It lies close to Roscommon town at the north-western corner of Lough Ree between the Clooneigh and Hind rivers. The first sound I hear when I step out of the car is the churring of the mistle thrush. Within a hundred yards I\u2019ve been regaled by coal tits, blue tits, robins, blackbirds galore, the harsh alarm call of a magpie, hooded crows and woodpigeons. As I walk along the narrow grass-lined byroad I hear water in the streams on either side, burbling loudly after all the rain this winter\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Poet Jane Clarke on Cloonlarge Bog loop (photo Stephen Crilly)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n