Trust acquire 20 acres to 'quadruple' size of Ardan Wood

An ambitious project involving one of Ireland's last remaining ancient woodlands was featured on RTÉ's Nationwide programme on Wednesday evening.

The Native Woodland Trust has acquired 20 acres surrounding Ardan Wood near Kilbeggan and Tyrrellspass, in order to preserve and expand the woodland, in a bid to restore the country's "original climax ecosystem" using only native seed.

Local volunteers and the Native Woodland Trust were featured on the programme gathering seeds from the floor of the woods, some of which will be planted on the newly acquired land, others to be grown on in the Trust's nursery in Wicklow.

Jeremy Casey, Outreach and Reserves Office, Native Woodland Trust, said:

"As it stands today, Ardan is a seven acre woodland in a horseshoe shape or half-moon crescent and effectively we've been able to purchase 20 acres surrounding it, so this woodland will get a chance to stretch it's legs and expand for the first time in 200 years to quadruple in total size," he explained.

"Ardan is what you would call an ancient woodland, and that means Ardan has been around and documented as being around and under continuous wooded cover since at least the mid 1600's."

Local volunteers including Alastair Ferrar, Shane McCormack, and John Deegan talked of the 'joy' in being involved in the project.

"It's going to be amazing to be able see the difference that you actually make," commented Shane McCormack. "We're so used to seeing deforestation and areas being ripped down, this is really a unique chance to see land being reclaimed by the forest and taken back over."

"If you take a look at the Oak trees here, you just have to walk around and see the size of them, you can almost feel the history in the place and it just has an aura all of it's own, a very special place," continued John Deegan.

"I don't know how to describe it but it's like seeing something that's been in prison, like an animal in captivity, that you're releasing from captivity," added Alastair Ferrar. "You're just letting something free and you're watching that experience, participating in that experience, and you're bringing others in to enjoy that experience too. It's incredibly liberating.

Last autumn Ardan Wood provided a bumper crop of nuts and seeds.

"Just in this small area, I can pick up just by looking in front of me - a hazel nut, a hawthorn berry and an acorn and this is the type of thing mother nature's doing, spreading her seed and growing herself," continued Jeremy Casey.

"But you will notice this year seems to be a good mast year for Oak trees, and a mast year is basically a really good year for acorns. Scientists predict that every five to ten years the oaks will have a mast year which means that in that time they will produce an abundance of acorns known as a 'big fall'.

"And this year certainly seems to be one of those big fall years. It's almost as if Ardan Wood knows that we're here for good, it might know about our plans to spread the woodland, and it seems like the oak trees are coming to the party in a big way helping us to provide a lot more seed for collection to grow for planting.

Watch Wednesday's episode of Nationwide featuring Ardan Wood on the RTÉ Player.