Wildwood - Ballyarr Woods Nature Reserve
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Good guy Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 11 Feb 2013 Posts: 2593 Location: Donegal
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 8:58 pm Post subject: Wildwood - Ballyarr Woods Nature Reserve |
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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."
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_________________ ~ 'Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities' ~ Voltaire |
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kindredspirit Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 10 Nov 2008 Posts: 2300 Location: Mid-west.
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Ado 2 Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 15 May 2015 Posts: 1204 Location: Dublin
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:31 am Post subject: |
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Fantastic. Lovely pictures you captured it well. Does the soul good being in a place like that
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medieval knievel Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 1010
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 12:48 pm Post subject: Re: Wildwood - Ballyarr Woods Nature Reserve |
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Good guy wrote: | this place appears in Griffith's Valuation, so it is old. |
it's clearly marked in the 6 inch OS map from the first half of the 19th century:
http://map.geohive.ie/mapviewer.html
if you have not used that viewer before, go to 'base information and mapping' in the top left, and you can switch between the current map, 6 inch map, 25 inch map (turn of the century) and several layers of satellite imagery.
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tagwex Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 5188 Location: Co. Wexford
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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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.
_________________ “It’s my field. It’s my child. I nursed it. I nourished it. I saw to its every want. I dug the rocks out of it with my bare hands and I made a living thing of it!”
This boy can really sing http://youtu.be/Dgv78D2duBE |
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medieval knievel Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 1010
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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it's marked on the standard maps though too. you shouldn't need the woodland layer enabled.
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tagwex Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 5188 Location: Co. Wexford
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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It is indeed, but much clearer with that layer turned on and one can see all the other woods too.
_________________ “It’s my field. It’s my child. I nursed it. I nourished it. I saw to its every want. I dug the rocks out of it with my bare hands and I made a living thing of it!”
This boy can really sing http://youtu.be/Dgv78D2duBE |
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Good guy Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 11 Feb 2013 Posts: 2593 Location: Donegal
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:45 pm Post subject: |
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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!
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medieval knievel Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 1010
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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yep, there's all sorts of info there, from census info to environmental stuff. it's a phenomenal resource.
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tagwex Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood

Joined: 23 Feb 2010 Posts: 5188 Location: Co. Wexford
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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Did you not have the interweb at school young fellow?
_________________ “It’s my field. It’s my child. I nursed it. I nourished it. I saw to its every want. I dug the rocks out of it with my bare hands and I made a living thing of it!”
This boy can really sing http://youtu.be/Dgv78D2duBE |
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