Seamus Heaney's Blackberry Picking features in new Poetry Jukebox at WWT Castle Espie

Thanks to the arrival of the internationally renowned Poetry Jukebox, visitors to WWT Castle Espie in Comber, Co Down, visitors can listen to a poetry

collection at the touch of a button while enjoying the beauty of nature.

The jukebox offers a collection of 20 original ‘eco’ poems based on the theme of climate, environment and our relationship with it.

The collection, entitled ‘Forage’, is the second edition of the Poetry Jukebox connected to the theme of climate and the environment. It forms part of the ‘earth’ project, a collaboration between science and the arts, hosted by the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, in partnership with the literary arts production company Quotidian, who manage Poetry Jukebox in Northern Ireland.

This edition of the Poetry Jukebox is a celebration of both the natural object and the poem, and a powerful forward-looking call to action. Curated by environmental poet Dr Emma Must, visitors to WWT Castle Espie will be able to hear a collection of 20 poems from a handful of the UK and Ireland’s foremost ecopoets which explore the theme of food, foraging and climate.

It also features a poem from Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney’s Blackberry Picking, read by Heaney himself.

Maria McManus, poet and artistic director of Quotidian and Poetry Jukebox NI, said: “As people, we need to understand our impact on the natural world. Our connection to the natural world, its capacity to thrive, depends on our connection to ourselves - we need to know ourselves - the poems are a way in.

"Listening to the poems creates a moment to slow down, to listen to nature and to tune to the gifts of it. We are absolutely thrilled that this curation of poems includes Seamus Heaney’s Blackberry Picking; recorded in the voice of the Nobel Laureate himself.”

Paul Stewart, WWT Castle Espie centre manager, said: “We hope that the poems included on the Poetry Jukebox will encourage visitors to sit for a moment, look out onto the beautiful landscape and wetlands of Strangford Lough, as the voices of the 20 poets connect, raise awareness and remind us all of the importance of nature.”