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The streets of Armagh will come alive with sound on Saturday morning ahead of the William Kennedy Piping Festival. Brian Vallely is the organiser and he’ll give us a flavour of the uilleann pipes alongside his flute playing cousin Fintan Vallely. For more information on the upcoming event and Armagh’s famous musicians visit

From Armagh to Antrim we cross over to Portmore Lough Reserve, the RSPB’s 700 acres of wet grassland, meadows, horses, geese and whooper swans. It’s a gorgeous place to visit and Anne Marie caught up with Assistant Warden Amy Burns, who has the pleasure of working there. For more information on the Reserve visit

Another Armagh influence as we hear about the life of Michael J Murphy, the renowned folklorist, writer, broadcaster, storyteller and socialist. Known throughout Ireland by the worker in the field and academia in the capital, he was a man before his time. Kevin Murphy is a family friend who’ll tell us about his connection with Michael and the plans to recognize his life.

We often hear about writers putting characters on a page, but Conor McKay has found a man who carves characters into wood. Dungannon artist Larry McLarnon has embarked on his first solo exhibition titled Men at Work. The town’s most famous faces will now be able to see themselves immortalised in a different light at the exhibition in Ranfurly House.

Peering through her binoculars and focusing the telescope, Dot Bleakley shows Anne Marie a gathering of red breasted mergansers hanging out at Whitehouse Lagoon. Our expert bird watcher is very fond of the mergansers that have come to spend their winter holidays at the beauty spot outside Newtonabbey.

Towering above Belfast is the iconic landscape of Cavehill, a walker’s paradise and a setting for film and tales of folklore. Bill O’Neill lives beside the city’s famous mountain terrain, and he’ll tell us about his new booklet the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Cavehill.