Is there any real indigenous forest left in Ireland?

kuntboy

As I understand it the last of it was cut down in the famine? I've heard the best candidate may be small islands in remote lakes. What about this Millenium forest thing?

Cheers

Melodeon

Coolattin Woods was probably the most recent piece of ancient woodlands to be felled, back in the 1970's.
Tomnafinnoge Woods neat Tinaheley is the only fragment of it now remaining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomnafinnoge_Woods

Accidentally

St John's Wood in Roscommon is another one.

JJayoo

Union Wood in Sligo.

I have grown a few thousand trees from acorns collected at Union Wood, creating my own native forest

kuntboy

A better question might be, is there any unmanaged deciduous forest in Ireland? Say > 50 years without deadwood or undergrowth removal etc. Anything more approximating a so called "primeval" forest before human interference.

Defunkd

Killarney Natl. Park is one; Reenadinna, or something like that, has Western Europes oldest native yew woods.
Ballyseedy, near tralee, is supposedly Ireland's oldest native wet woodlands. Lots of oak and ash in there but quite a few sycamores too.

A managed woodland fares much better than a neglected/ 'natural' one. Good husbandry goes a very long way and is extremely beneficial to the ecosystem.


Those Mil. forests are a load of crap. I saw one that was a large plantation of alder - no mix - and they were planted too close together. It struck me as an exercise in numbers only; no proper forethought or future value involved.

Viscount Aggro

I have some, in Wicklow... birch and oak.

tinytobe

I always thought the forest behind Glendalough, south of St. Kevin's church would be indigenous.

Birdnuts

Very hard to find any now not damaged by Deer or Rhodendron:(

TheFarrier

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/109248959#Comment_109248959

We’ve about 25 acres here at home that might fit your description. According to dad it was being being managed up to the 70s, but not touched since, the timber was harvested that time by a woodsman, he cut it with an axe and hauled the timber out with a horse, and replanted as he went. It’s a lovely place to potter around, full of wildlife, proud to have a small patch of the wilderness at home.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/109129881#Comment_109129881

That's a managed copied wood not really true native. It's very good though.

Ireland only has tiny little pockets of woodland and most of them are highly degraded by interference or invasive species.

It depresses me greatly.

893bet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120923773#Comment_120923773

Rhodendron are a %#%%*%.

I have heard and effective method of control is concentrated roundup in a spray can, cut branch near the ground and spray direct onto the exposed cut. I need to test it.