Expanding the wild magic of Ardan Wood

Nurturing nature for the next generation, while educating them on its importance, is one of the opportunities Ardan Wood in Kilbeggan presents. The delightful wild space is managed by an environmental charity organisation, The Native Woodland Trust, who hope to capitalise on that opportunity.

Not only is the woodland an enclave of peace and calm, but it’s also a repository of ecological treasures. The Native Woodland Trust aim to preserve Ireland’s remaining ancient woodlands and restore the country’s original climax ecosystem using only native seed.

Ardan is a seven-acre woodland in a horseshoe shape. The recent purchase of 20 acres surrounding it will allow the woodland a chance to stretch its legs and expand for the first time in 200 years and quadruple in total size.

The woodlands are home to badgers, bats and red squirrels. The Westmeath branch of Native Woodland Trust act to protect local nature as volunteers manage, monitor, and facilitate the expansion of the forest.

The group have already produced and planted more than 600 trees collected as seed in the woodland, eradicated invasive snowberry, and continue monitoring their progress via citizen science methods such as walking butterfly transects, moth trapping and deploying wildlife trail cameras.

Leading the charge is Alastair Ferrar: “I relocated to Ireland in 2019 with my wife, who is originally from Kilbeggan,” he told the Examiner. “I had a job here as a landscape architect in Dublin, and we moved back to Kilbeggan just before Covid.”

While exploring the area for interesting native wild landscapes, an interest stoked by his father’s job as wildlife ecologist working in wild areas in southern Africa, he encountered a patch of land that sparked his curiosity.

“There was a little fragment of what appeared to me to be pristine native woodland, possibly even ancient woodland,” he said. Alastair found out that Ardan Wood was leased to the Native Woodland Trust in 2012 by Westmeath County Council.

He contacted the organisation and started to get involved in the project. His voluntary work saw the Trust acquire all the land surrounding the woodland in 2021, allowing the woodland nature reserve to be expanded.

“The Native Woodland Trust gave me an authorisation to start negotiating with landowners of the neighbouring fields,” Alastair said.

Since then Ardan Wood has thrived and this year’s funding support has unlocked a number of new projects. They include installing bat roosting and kestrel nesting boxes, as well as new educational signage. Habitat enhancement projects include the restoration of a hay meadow via green hay transfer from a nearby donor site, with support from the National Parks and Wildlife Service Grasslands.

In addition, native hedgerow rejuvenation is planned along an 80m stretch of boundary, involving the removal of invasive honeysuckle and the reintroduction of locally grown hedgerow species collected from the woodland and grown in the Trust’s tree nurseries.

“The principle of it is rewilding. It’s allowing the woodland to expand naturally. We’re also helping it along a little bit where we’re harvesting acorns. We’ve already planted out three areas along the edges that currently don’t have trees,” Alastair said.

The projects taken on reinforce Ardan Wood’s role, reflected in its Irish name meaning ‘platform’, as a living platform for conservation, woodland expansion and social opportunity. The Forest School Fun is another programme dedicated to two local schools, to free volunteer and educational events that run year-round for all ages.

Alastair maintains that this is one of the most important aspects of the entire project: “We try to take the schools out twice a year. We can take the whole of Rahugh NS, but we can only take groups from Kilbeggan NS. Westmeath County Council helped us with that. Hopefully we will be able to roll it out on a regular basis, it’s such an important part of the project, getting them to know and love the woodlands.

“If we don’t get children involved in their local woodlands, then there will be no connection with our ecology. That is a fundamental aspect of this project.”

The general manager of the Native Woodland Trust, Jeremy Casey, welcomed the support from the Community Foundation and the National Parks and Wildlife Service: “It’s a rare opportunity to help expand an ancient Irish woodland.

“There is much to do as we monitor, listen and respond to what the land wants in a scientifically-grounded manner. And it’s not all about marching in and planting trees, it’s about careful management of a mosaic of critical habitats and supporting nature’s own rewilding.”

Denise Charlton, chief executive of Community Foundation Ireland, said: “We all know nature is in crisis. Once familiar bird songs, the fleeting sight of a passing animal and even our creepy crawlies and native plants are disappearing. Local actions are key to addressing this.”

Niall Ó Donnchú, director general of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, added: “This partnership between NPWS and Community Foundation Ireland supports action for nature at the local level. We welcome the increasing focus on citizen science, community outreach and engagement with schools, all of which are key to addressing the biodiversity crisis.”

This year’s grants are supported by philanthropic funding from Community Foundation Ireland and its donors, including a major contribution from the Sunflower Charitable Foundation, along with funding from the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.