Some creatures are so ridiculously beautiful that they just don't belong in the real world. The Halcyon, or Kingfisher, was a favourite of the Gods. Kingfishers nest underground in river-banks. The nests are never seen and the ancient Greeks thought that the birds must lay their eggs out on the sea. The waters around Greece are usually tranquil for a few weeks around the summer solstice. This was because the Gods calmed the sea to allow their special bird to nest; hence the expression 'halcyon days'. Irish birds are, by international standards, a dull unpretentious lot, the avian equivalent of the 'plain people of Ireland'. The Kingfisher is so glamorous that it looks out of place here. Its extraordinary colours are more appropriate to the tropics than to a cloudy overcast island. Glamour has its downside. It's not always wise to attract attention to oneself and, for a bird to do so, can be fatal. Flamboyant costumes may impress your neighbours but they make you an easy target for your enemies. Kingfishers, therefore, must have a very good reason to dress up. Wasps have painful stings and wear yellow and black football-jerseys to frighten their enemies away. Are Kingfishers doing the same? Perhaps a hawk, which eats a Kingfisher, finds the flesh so unpalatable that it never catches one again, a case of 'once bitten, twice shy'. This is just one of the intriguing question raised in this radio documentary on Kingfishers. New ways of persuading kingfishers to nest have been developed at the Rye Meads nature reserve in London. The discoveries there were used with spectacular success this summer in Wicklow. Presenter Dr Richard Collins and producer Derek Mooney visit the RSPB site at Rye Meads and Druids Glen in Wicklow to talk to experts about the life and times of Ireland's most glamorous bird. Presented by Richard CollinsProduced by Derek MooneyAn Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries