The peregrine falcon is Ireland's most impressive bird of prey and the fastest animal on earth, capable of diving at speeds exceeding 300 km/h to hunt mid-air.

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This is a fleshy, dark green perennial which grows in large clumps in coastal habitats such as shingle, salt-marsh margins, old sea walls and grasslands.

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The Golden Plover is a summer visitor from France and Iberia and a winter visitor from Iceland. They often feed alongside Lapwing and Black-headed Gulls.

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Primroses were prized plants for those in Ireland who brewed their own cures and concoctions in days gone by. Primroses were widely used as remedies for muscular aches and pains, rheumatism, paralysis and gout.

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The common chiffchaff, or simply the chiffchaff, is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds in open woodlands throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic.

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From garden snails to rare woodland snails and tincy tiny sand dune specialists, Ireland is a haven for snails. Integral to almost every food web, though often overlooked, this week's Nature File looks at the role of snails in our hedges, woods, fens and fields.

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Once a pair of pipits have gone to the trouble of making a nest and laying their perfect eggs therein, along comes cuckoo to lay her own little troublemaker in among the pipit eggs. Explore the ecology and the folklore of Meadow Pipits in this week’s Nature File.

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Nature File returns to the airwaves this week, celebrating the blossoming of woodland wildflowers. White flowered wood-sorrel and wood anemone; glistening yellow lesser celandine and of course, violet coloured violets and bluebells, all making the most of April.

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Spiders found in Ireland include 583 unique species.

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A medium sized raptor (bird of prey) with broad wings, a compact body, short neck and medium-length tail. Has a short hooked bill suitable for eating meat.

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