Common Knapweed Centaurea nigra, also known as Lesser Knapweed, Black Knapweed or Hardheads.   This must be one of our favourite Wildflowers at Wildacres and we have many! Why?…Well there are so many reasons to love this “Purple Prince” of Wildflowers!   This stunning (thornless) thistle-like wildflower has iridescent pink-purple flower heads. It continuously flowers over ..read more

  Honeysuckle is a stunning, often underrated native climbing shrub, and one of our favourite plants at Wildacres. It is also known as ‘Woodbine’ because of its ability to wrap itself around its support such as another tree shrub or a fence, with its old growth taking on a tough woody character. It will happily ..read more

  We have become somewhat obsessed with deadwood at Wildacres.   Mind you, we have become obsessed with Ponds, Woodland, Scrub, Wildflower Meadows, our River, Bats, Otters….. Okay focus…Back on track! Since we started transforming Wildacres from 17.5 acres of overgrazed pastureland into a vibrant and thriving nature reserve, we have really begun to appreciate how important deadwood is and the sheer amount and variety of life that it supports. When we talk about deadwood, we are talking about both standing and fallen deadwood. Fallen deadwood in the form of whole trees that have falle ..read more

Beekeeping and producing honey are topics that are often fraught with misconceptions. Pollinators and especially bees, deservedly so, have had quite a bit of media attention in recent years. Some relevant and accurate coverage and some not so much. Yes, Bee’s certainly are in big trouble. ‘More than half of Ireland’s bees have undergone substantial declines in their numbers since 1980. The distribution of 42 species of wild bees has declined by more than 50%’. National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) Headlines frequently used are “Save The Bees” “Bees in Trouble” etc. Often and mistakenly, the ..read more

Delighted to be selected as finalists in the Leadership in Biodiversity category of the Business & Finance ESG awards taking place 18th April 2024 ..read more

What a pleasure to be interviewed by Catherine Cleary for the Pocket Forest Podcast March 2024 following the planting of our Pocket Forest at Wildacres. Pocket Forest Podcast https://www.pocketforests.ie/our-podcast ..read more

Honoured to be nominated for the Eco Group of the Year category at the Outsider Magazine Awards in February 2024   ..read more

Very proud to be one of the 21 ‘Sustainable Irish Names to Know Now’ in House & Home magazine Jan/Feb 2024       ..read more

One of many frogs at Wildacres We have recorded large amounts of frogspawn this Spring, having noted it in 26 of our now, 35 wildlife ponds. This is so heartening to see, a real “Good News” Biodiversity story. We have found frogspawn in nearly all our ponds   Exciting to see the volume of frogspawn When we checked we found masses of fresh frogspawn, a lot of which was well above the waterline, deposited on the grass. Rescuing frogspawn above waterline   As this would quickly desiccate in the sun, we collected all the spawn which was not in water. The result was five full buck ..read more

  It is that time of year again when our wonderful native Ivy is in blossom. Not the sort of display of blossom that is going to turn heads or win a Gold at The Chelsea Flower Show. Well, unless the judging panel was made up of a team of Solitary Bees, Bumblebees, Honeybees, Butterflies, Moths, Bats, Birds and much more! Because Ivy is one of those rare plants that caters for a huge range of species. It is without doubt, one of our most important native plants, in relation to the amount of biodiversity it supports. Unfortunately, like a lot of the plants that are vital for biodiversity, s ..read more