Treading through a life of tiny creatures

Dale Treadwell, TV presenter and environmental enthusiast measures six feet 3 and a half inches. In spite of his height, he has chosen to spend his life among tiny little things.. namely insects and children.Children and insects may not be everyone's cup of tea but after working with "Zig and Zag" and Dustin the Turkey, Dale considers them a breeze. Explaining the ease at which he charms and manages children on both TV and in the class room he says:"I am a funny looking guy. A funny looking guy with a really funny accent. And I always try to make the kids laugh. That captures their attention."I also never underestimate kids, they are so bright and they see things so clearly. They understand that they play a big part in their environment and it is amazing to hear all the work they do in their schools and at home to be green," says Dale.What Dale calls "a funny accent" is in fact a softly-spoken Antipodean one, hailing as he does from the realistic rather than magical land of Oz.The Treadwells set off from Cornwall many generations ago as part of a wave of brave new settlers to Australia - of their own volition, rather than in irons, Dale stresses! They settled in Rouville, at the foothills of the Dandenongs in East Melbourne.While it was the chance of adventure that brought the Treadwells to Oz it was love that brought Dale back round to this hemisphere again."I met my wife, Jennifer, in Sydney 12 years ago. She just captivated me and I was besotted. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing we settled back in Ireland, first in Celbridge and then eight years ago we bought this wonderful little cottage in Kinnegad," says Dale.The cottage is Gumtree and as well as a home, it is a testament to everything Dale stands for. His hedgerow is laced with Buddlea and in the late summer sunshine it is laden with hundreds of butterflies. The land behind the hedge is filled with flowers, the order of planted blooms framed by the chaos of meadow wildflowers and banks of thistles and nettles.Behind that, greenhouses and polytunnels are encouraging along vegetables, and at the very back, under cover, sheltered and nurtured is a little taste of home, a nursery of tiny norfolk pine (baby Araucaria heterophylla).This distinctive conifer is an ancient one and it grows only on a small pacific island called Norfolk Island, between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. Sometimes called a "star pine" this little tree is a reminder to Dale of his own roots."I studied Agriculture at college and my first job as a fresh-faced graduate was to work on rainforest reforestation in New South Wales. I was passionate and committed to my work and to the environment. My job included working with schools and creating programmes that would make backpackers and campers more aware of the important role that the rainforests played in our eco-system."When I came over to Ireland I was looking around for work that would allow me to continue my commitment to educating people about the importance of the ecosystem.In Australia I was responsible for projects on a huge scale. Re-forestation, re-vegetation, creating thousands of miles of walking routes and tracks in the outback. What I'm doing now is the same thing scaled back, just slightly," says Dale, holding up his finger and thumb.Dale started out on TV with the Den and "Naturally Wild" on which he introduces the children of Ireland to the weird and wonderful creatures and plants that live and grow all around them. Dale also designed a roadshow that he brings around to primary schools all over the country, teaching children about complex relationships in their local ecosystems and encouraging them to dig around in their gardens, look in ponds and search in streams to discover mini-environments that are teeming with wildlife."You have to have a totally different way to communicate to children. Imparting ideas to children is really different to imparting ideas to adults. You have to spark their interest, challenge them and then let them discover the information themselves. I just dress up my message in mayhem and madness and the kids love it," he says with a huge smile.Dale has two children to practise imparting his wacky ideas on, Leah 8 and Nathan 1."My kids are just mini-mes when it comes to exploring and learning about nature. When I'm doing a roadshow, I get up early in the morning and I'll go out and search the hedgerows and the ponds for tiny beasties to wow the schoolchildren with. Leah will often help me and isn't at all squeamish about going looking for woodlouse, centipedes or beetles. Then, when I see what cool stuff I'll be bringing I'll think up interesting funny stories for the kids to help them associate with the material and remember it. I love when the kids get excited about a gecko or a stick insect, which are exotic and then I show them what's in their own back yards and they're like 'wow!!!'."Dale is quiet but you can see the mind is racing. "How lucky am I? I followed the girl I love, to a country I adore. Here I have a great family. And every day I do a job that is totally anchored by everything I believe in."Funny how things work out", says the funny looking guy.