Fermanagh Biodiversity Event - Mothers' Day Walk in the Woods
If you missed out on this pleasant spring activity, Martin Lawson, Fermanagh Field Officer, gives his account of the day.
It started as a simple idea; hold a nature walk and have a leisurely stroll around the grounds of Castle Archdale, Co. Fermanagh, to admire the woodland and emerging spring flowers. It would be a way of thanking all the volunteers who have been busy planting thousands of trees all winter and give them a vision of the future – one day all the recently planted saplings will grow into new woodlands to be enjoyed by a future generation.
The hook to get people to come along was to hold the walk on Mother’s Day. At the end of the walk, children would be given a pot of native wildflowers to give to their mothers. The wildflowers had been grown by members of our Green Gym teams and local schools. It must have been a very good hook because on the day over 200 people turned up!
Fortunately we were able to split the group into a number of smaller groups and make several tours around the woodland.
The walk started in the Forest School, an outdoor classroom with examples of willow domes, tunnels and a range of woodland creature habitats. From the Forest School, we wandered down through the rock gardens, looking at the Yew avenue and Monkey Puzzle trees. The younger members of the group were intrigued by the black rabbits, which are common here. The intrepid walkers passed on into the oak woodlands with it carpets of Wild Garlic, Primrose, Wood Anemone, Wood Sorrel and Bluebells. After emerging through the thick maze of Rhododendron and Laurel at the edge of the woodland we passed the ponds where hundreds of frogs were busy spawning. The grazing Red Deer barely looked up as the groups wandered past. Further on the fields were full of wobbly-legged lambs and multi-horned old breed sheep.
We re-entered the woodland again as we followed the old forest roads that were used to supply the flying boats that were based at Castle Archdale during the Second World War. The road took us down to the shores of Lough Erne. Here, the trees were different species. Oak trees are replaced by Willow, Alder, Birch and Ash. By mid afternoon the sun had burnt through the cold lough mists and it had turned into a beautiful day. Spirits were high and questions about the woodland fauna and flora came thick and fast as we headed back up the hill to the walk end.
At the end of the walk the children were given their pots of wildflowers which they could now happily identify. All in all, a very enjoyable family day out, with everyone vowing to come back to go round the woodland again when the flowers change with the season.