Growing up with horses my understanding of ragwort was simple: its frilly leaves and yellow flowers represented a weed that was toxic and undesirable, it could be deadly if your horse or pony ate it by mistake. An outright anti-ragwort stance was therefore not that unreasonable. Particularly because when cut and dried into hay for fodder, ragwort can pose a very real threat to the health of grazing animals, especially equines. I therefore always considered ragwort as something to be looked out for, just so that it could be got rid of. And I can’t say that I ever considered ragwort beyond its p ..read more

At the inception of the Rewilding.ie project, the vision was set: To Make Ireland The Wildest and Healthiest Island On The Planet… Exploring different models for how this can be achieved, we began work on pilot projects here in our home region of Donegal (will reveal more about this later in the autumn)… As part of this process, we quickly realised that across the island of Ireland there is already a great volume and quality of work being carried out in the same spirit of what are our own goals. Happily, we discovered that the vision and passion for restoring connection with nature is shared w ..read more

Did you notice last month, that “No Mow May” has taken root as a trend in gardens in Ireland? Allowing our lawns to grow into mini wildflower meadows is a superbly simple way to do a little rewilding close to home… ??? But now May is over! So what next for wildflowers, pollinators, lawns - and us ourselves? This “no mow” trend is a wonderful development for pollinators, especially given that Ireland - being such a famously great place for growing grass - is an island dotted everywhere with lawns large and small. Even here at Rewilding.ie HQ in Co. Donegal - after only a couple of seasons of&n ..read more

In Ireland - and around the world - it is World Bee Day today! Having a specific day in the calendar to celebrate the importance of bees (and all pollinators) is a valuable opportunity to highlight the vital work that bees do each and every day, all around the world… As many of us well know, the importance of bees cannot be overstated - whether it maintaining healthy ecosystems, supporting human livelihoods and boosting people’s wellbeing in so many ways… So it is nice to celebrate this. For Ireland this is also a day to remind ourselves that small countries can play a big role in promoting an ..read more

Butterfly on daisies in County Donegal. As we move forward with the launch of Rewilding.ie, I wanted to share with our new community the reasoning behind putting pollinators front and centre in our first projects… There are of course many logical reasons why “Pollinators First” is hopefully the right approach as we launch Rewilding.ie. Ultimately - and most importantly - the emotional and aesthetic appeal of pollinators is what makes this approach feel so compelling. Rewilding.ie aims to make it as accessible, easy and enjoyable as possible for people in Ireland to rekindle a meaningful conne ..read more

Beechnuts at the ready! Photographed during a Beech Mast in County Donegal, October 2022. Whether the Beech ought to be classed strictly as a “native” tree of Ireland is not entirely clear. What is clear however, is that the Beech is superbly woven into our ecosystem here - as it is throughout much of Europe, Asia and North America. Alongside the Hazel and the Oak, the Beech is the other great treasure trove of nut-based protein and fat, revealed as a gift in the autumn to the squirrels, boar, birds and other wild creatures - providing crucial nutrients for surviving the winter ahead. For hum ..read more

Without looking it up - would you know which county in Ireland is so apple-mad it is called the Orchard County? Now, if you don’t know, the answer will be revealed at the end… But let me tell you first that we were there in the Orchard County this weekend to celebrate the end of the apple harvest… And the reason for pursuing this apple-lined avenue of enquiry was to get a sense of what the apple could mean for rewilding in Ireland. This fits well with the Rewilding.ie focus on pollinators - because fruit trees and pollinators are so inextricably linked. “Agro-forestry” might be a buzzword and ..read more