Wildwood - Ballyarr Woods Nature Reserve

Good guy

This relic of the wild forest is only a few miles from Letterkenny. The authorities are doing a great job in restoring its wildness by gradually removing beech etc, coppicing the Hazel to let a new under storey develop, allowing a few ponies to graze the grasses, etc. and by making new ponds. I love to take the dog there for a walk. There is something very special about walking in ancient land - this place appears in Griffith's Valuation, so it is old. The dog thinks it is heaven.

When I walked here yesterday, the vivid greens of the ferns and mosses against the ochres and silvery grays of winter took my breath away. To paraphrase Van the Man, "it was a marvellous day for a fern-walk 'neath the colour of January skies."

kindredspirit · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:35 am Post subject:

Ferns, Lichens & Mosses. Heaven.

Ado 2 · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:31 am Post subject:

Fantastic. Lovely pictures you captured it well. Does the soul good being in a place like that

medieval knievel

tagwex · Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 2:25 pm Post subject:

In order to see it you have to have the ancient and long established woodland inventory layer turned on. Long way to bring the dog for a walk GG.

medieval knievel · Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:25 pm Post subject:

it's marked on the standard maps though too. you shouldn't need the woodland layer enabled.

tagwex · Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:33 pm Post subject:

It is indeed, but much clearer with that layer turned on and one can see all the other woods too.

Good guy · Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:45 pm Post subject:

It's only ten or fifteen minutes drive in normal traffic and I often go a lot further taking my son to soccer! But I wouldn't go there that often - another favourite is by the lake at Gartan which is another 'good for the soul' place and the dog also enjoys the beach at Rathmullan, which is a lot further. The great thing about these places is that he can run free and dash about following scents to his heart's content and be no danger to sheep or cattle.
That is a fantastic resource, Geohive. I've not come across it before, though I've often used the OSI website. There is so much information - I'm on a steep learning curve, having had to drop geography at school, age 14: the idiocy of schools/exam systems!

medieval knievel · Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:51 pm Post subject:

yep, there's all sorts of info there, from census info to environmental stuff. it's a phenomenal resource.

tagwex · Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:52 pm Post subject:

Did you not have the interweb at school young fellow?