TV: Monday 7th April 2008, BBC1 Northern Ireland, 9pm

Armed with the geological building blocks, Northern Ireland was ready to be colonised by plants and animals.

The epic journey through time and space continues as we reveal what has lived and disappeared from here since the first animals set foot on the shoreline of this island millions of years ago.

Dinosaurs, Giant elk, woolly mammoths and tropical forests have all made this place their home at one time or another.

Presenter William Crawley visits the key locations while experts Peter Woodman and Emily Murray dig deep (literally) to examine the plants and animals which first settled here.

Using CGI to bring to life some of those creatures, we peel back the layers of the natural landscape to reveal the story of our natural environment.

Repeated on BBC2 NI Wednesday 9th April at 7.00pm and again on BBC2 NI Sun 13th April at 5.30pm

Radio: Saturday April 12th 2008, BBC Radio Ulster, 11.30am

How did those first plants and animals reach our island home? Presenter Caroline Nolan visits some key locations in the company of a range of experts and travels back in time to a period when our natural environment and wildlife was much more exotic than it is today.