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It’s National Biodiversity Week, and here at The Journal, we’re celebrating the people who are helping nature recover at a time of difficult climate challenges.
Wildacres is a multi-award-winning nature reserve and biodiversity education centre. It’s set on 34 acres close to Brittas Bay in Southeast Wicklow. Established by husband-and-wife team Brian O’Toole and Gilly Taylor, in 2017, Wildacres is a social enterprise dedicated to biodiversity restoration, protection, monitoring and education.
The couple’s mission is to inspire and help others to make a positive difference for the environment and their well-being. They host a range of engaging and entertaining nature-based tours and interactive workshops for individuals, community groups, clubs and corporate groups. Here, Gilly tells the story of how Wildacres came about…
BIODIVERSITY IS NOT the poor relation of climate; it is the twin sister. We need to solve both crises simultaneously to ensure sustainability.
And the good news? We have the solutions. Change is possible. The challenge? We need to implement those solutions faster.
So, here is our story of how we built Wildacres, our biodiversity and nature reserve in County Wicklow. Wildacres is one of many projects across Ireland aiming to make a positive impact on the environment, and the beauty of it is that everyone, individuals, community groups and businesses, can play their part.
Brian had spent about 30 years working in sales and management in the construction industry, but he always had a love of nature. I had 20 years behind me working in Sales, Marketing and Management in the Media Services Sector. In recent years, I retrained as a Nutrition & Fitness Coach and Pilates Instructor.
We were both hungry to move away from the corporate lives we’d been living, and couldn’t stop thinking about how we might set up a sanctuary for native wildlife. You could say it was a calling.
Truth be told, at the end of 2017, when we acquired the land that we now call Wildacres, it was a massive relief. Our plan was to find a place where we could encourage biodiversity and help nature to flourish. We had spent several frustrating years hunting for the ‘right’ place, with plenty of upsets and let-downs along the way.
Our narrow search focus had caused some problems – we wanted somewhere not too far from our home in South Dublin so that we could commute; in the direction of Wexford so we could visit our parents easily; in east Wicklow so that we had a straight run of it; no buildings so that the price would be reasonable; and finally, land that had potential for biodiversity restoration. A tall ask, you might say.
After much perseverance and determination, we found the perfect parcel — 17.5 acres of wet agricultural land on the Redcross river that wasn’t in demand due to it being difficult land to farm conventionally. Ideal as a Nature Reserve.
Brian had the vision for what the future could hold for wildlife on these four fields of mono-species perennial rye grass, and knew how to go about attracting biodiversity back, having been a nature enthusiast since he was a small child.
I proudly became his understudy and immersed myself in getting up to speed with nature knowledge, constantly asking questions. My heart has been captivated by the wonders of wildlife ever since. And while Brian started planting and digging, I began putting structure on the process to restore habitats and planning for the economic sustainability of the venture.
The first couple of years were tough because the land had been a desert for wildlife for decades, having been intensively grazed by sheep and cattle. We often remarked that the place seemed dead, devoid of bird song and the buzz of insects.
We excitedly started planting native woodland and hedgerow, creating wildlife ponds and blocking land drains, initiating the natural regeneration of wildflower meadow helping it along with seed harvesting and plug planting, restoring and repairing the riparian zone along the riverbank and erecting a barn (we needed shelter on wet, windy, wild days!)
Brian left his job in the family business (after 30 years), and I put to one side a new career as a Nutrition and Health Coach. We started working together full-time at Wildacres. The timing was perfect – old enough to be financially stable, young enough to have the physical fitness and energy that the project required.
It wasn’t too long before the magic began to happen. Frogspawn appeared in the ponds in giant gelatinous rafts, iridescent dragonflies showed up and showed off their dazzling aerobatic displays, wildflowers reawakened after years of slumber from the soil seed bank, birds moved in variety and abundance, including Great Spotted Woodpecker and Kingfisher.
Insects gradually became more prolific, and wild mammals such as Pine Marten and Otter, although elusive, started to expose themselves on our trail cameras. Happy days.
By 2022, the natural renaissance was very visible and exciting, and we were bursting to share it with others. So, in March that year, feeling a little anxious about whether people would come, we opened for guided tours and workshops. And people came!
With wildlife returning and visitors coming to learn what they could do in their own space and community, we gained more and more media attention, and things took off from there.
Every positive action for biodiversity makes a difference. All life on Earth needs food, water, shelter and a healthy environment.
Putting a window box of native wildflowers on your windowsill provides pollen and nectar for pollinators; putting a bird bath on your balcony provides drinking water and bathing facilities for our feathered friends; planting a native hedge in your garden provides shelter and food for insects, small mammals and birds.
Even creating a wildlife pond on your farm provides habitat for all manner of flora and fauna, while planting native trees in your community space or around your business premises will sequester tonnes of carbon for hundreds of years. The time to act is now.
For anyone who owns a lawn mower – using it to cut only pathways and borders in your grassy space, throughout spring and summer, is the simplest action to take to bring biodiversity back.
The stunning native perennial wildflowers and wild grasses that thrive in the uncut areas will attract a host of pollinators such as butterflies and bees, and other important creatures. And the beauty is, it gives you more time to relax and watch nature coming back.
There’s no need to spend a cent – no need to buy wildflower seed mixes, fertiliser, or chemicals. Just maybe a sickle or scythe to cut in the autumn after flowering has finished, and the seed is set for the next generation next year. And the clippings make great mulch for around the native trees or orchard trees that a neighbour has planted nearby.
We are adding more workshops, tours and safaris to our what’s on page on our website (Our Bat & Moth Safari is our latest addition) and are increasingly hosting more corporate groups for educational, fun and practical team building days.
All income earned from event bookings and gifts purchased goes directly back into the project. We are constantly adding new attractions for wildlife, and this in turn provides fascinating new interest for visitors.
Additionally, we are creating a more structured biodiversity monitoring programme so that we can truly measure what nature is achieving. And because we are addicted to biodiversity restoration and hard work, we increased the size of Wildacres with the purchase of another 16.5 acres earlier this year.
We are also so very lucky to have a group of amazing, dedicated volunteers at Wildacres, which is growing. This wonderful community brings a lovely social dimension to the project, and we are so grateful for their hard work and great company.
Our plan for the future is to give Wildacres to a Trust so that it will continue as a nature reserve and environmental social enterprise, dedicated to biodiversity restoration and education, long after we have passed on.
A legacy we feel very proud of.
Gilly Taylor and Brian O’Toole are the proprietors and owners of Wildacres in County Wicklow. Find them on wildacres.ie and Instagram at @wildacresnaturereserve.
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A quick change to your DNS settings does the job in the meantime.
Zzzzzzz
Yeah, if you want ALL of your traffic routed through someone else’s network in order to do that.
Pay 5 quid a month for a VPN, don’t be stupid.
It only routes traffic on the device you use not all traffic. And a VPN is through someone else’s computer (server)
Through someone else’s computer \ server \ network
VPN will usually be encrypted, and yes you’re right about not all devices if you change it on the device itself, however some people are changing it on their router which means every thing.
Also, if you’re using it on your laptop, that’s pretty sensitive traffic that’s happily being routed through random guys server – who’ll happily hoover up anything he can.
F*ck me, looking at the red thumbs the VPN comments got it’s no wonder cyber crime is so rampant here.
Quick copy and paste from a security blog:
RANDOM DNS PROXY CODES, THE RISKS ?
Using a Smart DNS proxy service, is not a bad idea. The only problem is that you do NOT know what traffic is being re-routed, so you do have to trust the Smart DNS proxy service. If you randomly find DNS codes online, and then apply those codes to unblock Netflix and the likes you risk the hazards below.
Your privacy is exposed, do you even know what information is gathered about you, how long it is kept, and for what purposes ?
Performance issues. If you are using an online random code, chances might be it is overloaded, and DNS queries are slow, which in turn slows down all of your Internet.
Your personal information is at risk ! Given that you do not know who operates and owns that DNS code. You are at risk of your personal information such as Facebook information, Bank accounts, email accounts, being re-routed and stolen.
Stability at loss. How much fun is it, if you have to keep running around fetching DNS codes, and your Internet being down on and off all the time.
No support ! If you have issues with the service, who do you turn to ?
Free ? Why ? So there is a DNS proxy code online, which is free to use ? Why ? I mean what is in it for the DNS code owner ? Under which jurisdiction is he acting ? And again under what privacy rules ?
I have a clue what you are talking about so I didn’t red thumb or green thumb. Everyone must be experts and disagree with you.
I think it’s more the interpretation of the attitude
Use the “Hola!” App in your browser. Easy.
Literally the worst offender
How can a sentence like this get into a published article:
“Certain shows like Better Call Saul are available in the Irish and UK version of Netflix, but not in the US and the reason why content is different depending on the country you’re viewing it in.”
I am waiting for the point of the sentence…
“The service has more than 69 million members before it announced its expansion, and streams over 125 hours of content to viewers a day, according to Hastings.”
Also according to the Journal Netflix only streams 125 hours to 69 million people each day which works out at .0065 seconds per customer on a daily basis which doesn’t sound quite correct to me but who am I to question these professional journalists!
The Journal is only short on one thing: good journalists. The standard of writng here drops daily. It is incredible that a public service would not try to ensure some sort of quality control. If some of the writng here was handed up in a school essay it would be handed straight back.
5 to 10 years.. In tech world that’s an eternity. 5 – 10 months might cut it better.
In 5-10 years the way we consume content will have changed again.
‘We want citizens of the world to have the same content.’
How depresssing is that. I thought the future was going to be all about diversity?
It’s a great service. The streaming on Netflix is leagues better than any other. Compared say to Sky on a PC, it doesn’t compare. I don’t know how they do it, they must have an enormous array of servers and advanced technology to do it.
You also know just how awful your broadband is when Netflix pauses to buffer!
To be fair your broadband would need to be really bad for buffering problems…my broadband is completely shit (up to 8mb) and my Netflix works perfectly 99% of the time.
Can I watch Netflix in Holland on iPad ?
If you can’ there are ways to configure settings so to answer your question that would be a yes
Yeah you can mate, was there in November and it worked great. Much better shows too.
Only if you’re in Holland, and own a iPad and subscribe to Netflix.
If you’ve got an android just get showbox.
If you have a PC, get Kodi
Just use Hola in Chrome. It’s free and easy to use. You can log into US Netflix, Canada and anywhere else. Netflix in the Netherlands has a fantastic selection of movies not available here.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/hola-used-for-botnet-on-chrome-2015-5 Be careful with Hola, like all freebies there are strings attached and its not without risks.
After initial excitement I wonder if Netflix is still worth its price. It’s quite low but movie selection is very lacking, not even one third of IMDb top 100 are available to watch…
Never mind any new movies – in recently added section I can see movies from 2010 and 2012…
They don’t have much competition now and that’s what keeps them going.
Compare it to the price of your TV licence, RTE costs 150 per year and has adds. Netflix works out at 8 per month so €92 per year with the first month free and no adds. The selection of content is probably comparable as well!
Works on iOS too
have your say