CURLEW - NUMENIUS ARQUATA

This week Garrett is imagining to look at a well talked about bird called a CURLEW. Its name in the Irish Language is ‘Crotach' which means humped or hump-backed.  Their large, long bill is soft and flexible. The Latin name is ‘NUMENIUS ARQUATA’. Sadly this bird is being hugely recognised as a highly endangered bird and is a RED listed bird in Ireland. It is estimated that there is only 100 - 138 breeding pairs in Ireland. 

It is one of our most beautiful waders with a fabulous, distinctive, yearning call. Garrett says when he hears the Curlew call, it gives him a great sense of belonging and relates it similarly to when he hears the sound of the Uilleann Pipes. Curlews can live up to 20 - 30 years old.

HIDE FM is a Per Cent for Art commission by Fingal County Council.

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What is HIDE FM?

HIDE FM - Podcast is a work of art by artist Garrett Phelan. It takes the form of 28 imagined and performed monologues on 28 birds that are visitors to the Rogerstown Estuary, Lusk, North County Dublin, Ireland. They were performed by Garrett from October 2023 - January 2024 in Millbrook Studios, Rathfarnham, Dublin. They were originally transmitted via an independent radio station HIDE FM during Spring 2025. The podcast is a sensitive exploration of the Fragility of our ecosystem. Garrett explores the status, sound, diet, breeding patterns, movement and folklore of each bird type, with ‘sonic interruptions’ interspersed into the podcasts. They were performed and created to depict viewing birds during the seasons of Autumn/Winter/Early Spring at the location of THE HIDE SCULPTURE, Lusk, Co.Dublin. 12 of the 28 birds he features are on the endangered RED list. 10 of the birds are on the endangered AMBER list and 6 are on the GREEN LIST. The HIDE FM - Podcast IS NOT REAL. It is an ‘IMAGINED, PERFECT’ landscape. Each week we will release a podcast that will focus on one particular bird from the area.

For more information on what we do follow us @thehideproject on Instagram or go to www.thehideproject.com

HIDE FM is a Per Cent for Art Commission by Fingal County Council.

Send all of your questions to [e-mail]