The biodiversity crisis might seem like an insurmountable challenge, but amidst the doom and gloom shines a remarkable story of hope and transformation. Welcome to Wild Acres Nature Reserve in County Wicklow, where a couple's decision to trade corporate careers for conservation has created a thriving ecological paradise.
When Brian and Gilly purchased four fields of intensively grazed perennial ryegrass in 2017, they faced a landscape stripped of life. Seven years later, their 34-acre reserve boasts 57 wildlife ponds, 15,000 native trees, and four acres of wildflower meadows teeming with insects, birds, and mammals. From otters playing in the ponds to woodpeckers drumming in the trees, the transformation has been nothing short of miraculous.
What makes their story particularly inspiring is how accessible their methods are to everyone. As Brian explains, "Nature is very forgiving. Once you bring the habitats back, it will respond positively." Their experience demonstrates that even small actions can yield remarkable results. A wildlife pond—which can be as simple as a repurposed container on a balcony—can attract diverse aquatic life within days. Native wildflowers, whether in a meadow or container, provide critical food sources for pollinators. These small pockets of habitat, when created across neighborhoods, form vital connectivity that allows wildlife to thrive in urban and suburban settings.
Beyond the ecological benefits, Wild Acres highlights the profound human connection to nature. Scientific research now confirms what Brian and Gillian witness regularly: time spent in natural spaces reduces stress hormones, improves mental clarity, and enhances overall wellbeing. Their workshops on pond creation, beekeeping, and wildlife gardening consistently sell out as people seek to reconnect with the natural world and make a positive difference.
Ready to create your own patch of biodiversity paradise? Visit Wild Acres online to learn about their upcoming workshops or start simply with a small pond, native plants, or bird feeder in your garden. The journey toward ecological recovery begins with a single step—and as this inspiring couple proves, nature will gladly meet you halfway.
You can connect with Wildacres here
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
how's it going, everybody, and welcome to
episode 275 of master my gardenpodcast.
So this week's episode is anexciting one.
So up in county wicklow there'sa project ongoing called Wild
Acres Nature Reserve and it wasstarted by Bryna Toole and
Gillie Taylor and it's afascinating place.
It was actually.
(00:34):
I had heard about it about ayear ago and have since been
following on Instagram.
It's I about 18 acres, but ithas 52 ponds, has 15,000 native
trees planted over the last fewyears, has four acres of
wildflower meadows.
I have about a 400 square meterwildflower meadow and I think
(00:56):
I'm great, but there's fouracres of this here and it has
become an education center, anature reserve, and there's
loads of ongoing workshops thatare going on all through the
summer.
So things like how to create awildlife pond, which we speak
about on the podcast and havespoken about on the podcast
before.
There's ones on beekeeping andloads of sort of related
(01:23):
workshops as we go through.
But it's a fascinating project.
There's what has happened inthe transformation we're going
to hear about now in a minute,but there's.
It's like you know what I'vesaid with my little wildflower
meadow when you create anenvironment or a habitat, the
wildlife will come, and I'veseen that with my first pair of
bullfinches that I keep harpingon about on the podcast.
(01:45):
Never had them before and theyhave come in as a result of it.
So if you can imagine justscaling up that and the amount
of you know different wildlifethat will come in off the back
of that, it's amazing.
So, brian and Gillian, you'revery, very welcome to Master my
Garden podcast thank you verymuch.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Pleasure to be here, pleasure to meet you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah so it's afascinating project.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Um, I suppose the first place we need to start is
where exactly this idea, orbrainchild, or what was the
catalyst for the idea and youknow, and then we'll start to
move through.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, yeah okay, well , I'll, I'll.
I'll start because Briandoesn't like talking about
himself too much, so I'm goingto start on that one, because
I'm going to tell you about thewild child that he was.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, you make me sound like a rock star.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Wild child from a nature point of view.
TVs at the hotel window, that'sreally where it all started, I
suppose with Brian as a childgrowing up in Dublin and Cabin
Tealy had access out the back ofthe garden through a gap into a
native woodland with themeandering streams with it.
(03:00):
And you know you really just asa youth, were just drawn to
nature and spent your time inthat and I'm always fascinated
like listening to this as astory growing up.
You know, and um a couple ofsiblings that might never have
set foot in the woodland but youknow he was one of those um
children that was naturallygifted with this um draw to
(03:23):
nature and wanting to find outmore.
And you know upturning stones,finding out about the bugs and
creatures that are there andrescuing jackdaws and badgers
and any animals that are introuble.
And you know to spend that timeimmersed in nature as a small
child with and obviously back inthe day you had a lot of
(03:45):
freedom that you weren't in.
There wasn't the helicopterparent day, you know there was
sort of.
You know he was allowed tospend time there alone and
really just immerse in natureand I think from there it kind
of grew with you.
You know constantly reading andwatching David Attenborough and
Jacques Cousteau and books andencyclopedias going to the
(04:07):
library, so that love of naturewas always there.
And I think that's really wherethe journey began.
For you, am I?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
right.
Yeah, I mean, if I just listen,thank you, I take the naturally
gifted bit.
I tell you what that doesn't gooff, but look, listen, it's
been.
Yeah, I mean, and it is oftensomething I wonder about, you
know, are we born with the loveof nature or is it something
that develops?
And I, you know, um, I thinksometimes you can be born with
it, definitely, you know, Iremember as a kid since I was
(04:35):
could walk, being fascinated bynature.
But I mean, even you yourself,jillian, I mean, you've always
been, um, you grew up, or both,from south dublin.
You grew up very local to hereas well and you were always into
the outdoor life.
And Gillie's a ski instructorand has always been into outdoor
pursuits, trekking and skiing.
And you know, just in the last,you know, since we bought the
(04:56):
land, we had this desire tomaybe buy some land and change
direction.
We both worked in corporatecareers for 30 odd years and we
just saw the biodiversity crisisand interlinked climate they're
totally inseparable climatecrisis unfolding and we just
want to do something, to do thebest we can and have an impact,
(05:19):
and that was to buy land.
And, as I said, ginny just hasbecome completely immersed in it
and, as I said Ginny, just hasbecome completely.
You've become completelyimmersed in it and it's just
mesmerising as to how muchyou've.
You know it's 24-7,.
You know, in relation to theimmersion in biodiversity and
your study of biodiversity, Ithink it's interesting to think,
(05:39):
though, that there's two verydifferent examples.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So, brian, who was naturally drawn to it and and
and learned about it, you knowour native flora and fauna since
he was a small child andcontinued that all the way
through his life, whereas for me, while always interested in the
great outdoors, I never delvedinto the detail of the flora,
the flora and fauna you know um,and in school you didn't really
(06:04):
get that you know, other thanthe nature table in junior and
senior infants.
It didn't continue onthroughout school, so I didn't,
but in the seven years since westarted with when we got the
land, I suppose have been.
Yeah, as you said, brian, I'vebeen studying.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
It's not just studying, you've been infatuated
, I've been totally drawn to it.
It's not just studying, it'sbeing infatuated.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I'm absolutely loving it, totally drawn to it,
totally drawn to it and kind offeel that it's never too late to
learn.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
No, that's the great thing.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
And no one knows it all.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
That's the other great thing.
I mean you don't have to knowthe Latin names of every plant
and every animal to be totallyawestruck by the beauty of the
biodiversity we have here inIreland to be totally awestruck
by the beauty of thebiodiversity we have here in
Ireland.
And that's something we reallytry and impress upon people.
Not impress upon them, that'sthe wrong term, but show them.
And we do show it to peoplethat come down to us.
We have stunning biodiversity.
(06:54):
I mean, just the weekend we didCreating a Wildlife Ponds
workshop.
As part of the workshop we do apond dip beforehand before the
attendees come down and we putall the wildlife out in trays on
the table and you know, showpeople as to what's in the ponds
and they're totally blown away.
They'll see water scorpions anddragonfly nymphs and newts and
(07:15):
tadpoles and water boatmen.
There's just so muchbiodiversity there and we show
them videos of kingfisher we'vetaken coming in and fishing off
the perch in one of our mainponds and a pair of otters
coming up on the trail cameracoming in from pond to pond
hunting for frogs.
And there's just so muchincredible biodiversity there.
Yeah, so it is something, andthat's that's just leading off
(07:38):
from that train of thought.
You know you don't have to.
You don't have to have grown upin that environment to fall in
love with it and fullyappreciate it and open up a
whole new area of your life, youknow, in relation to what's out
there, beyond the front doorand the back door, to enjoy.
And you don't have to haveacres of land either, even a
small garden you can attract inbiodiversity and be blown away
(08:00):
by it.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah, for sure, and we'll get to that how people can
sort of do their their littlebits in the garden.
But something, somethinginteresting there struck me as
you were having that, and Istarted thinking to myself.
You were drawn as a small childto nature, and your siblings
less so.
And, uh, you know, I think oneof one of you asked the question
(08:22):
, you know, is it a case thatcertain people are drawn to it
and others not so much?
And I wonder that, as, as you,as you were talking there, I
have a 16 year old and I have asix year old.
Both of them love nature.
Both of them.
Both of them are, you know, likethe outdoors more yeah but
strangely enough thesix-year-old has an unbelievable
(08:45):
desire to know stuff aboutanimals, about insects.
Yeah, yeah, yeah and I think forme here it becomes very obvious
.
So you know, sometimes when theweather is bad or whatever, and
they can't get out, orparticularly she can't get out,
she can get a little bit pent upin herself and we just, we just
look at one another and we sayshe needs to get outside.
(09:06):
Yeah, within 10 minutes ofbeing out in the polytunnel with
me, or within you know,literally minutes, she
completely changes everything,relaxes down she's digging up,
as, as you guys mentioned, sheshe's digging up all types of
little creatures.
(09:26):
She creates little homes forthem.
Yeah, and it's amazing to see.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Isn't it?
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I think life in general creates a disconnect,
whether by design or not, Idon't know, but it creates a
disconnect between us and natureand I think it's massively
important that that connectionis maintained.
It's good for us, obviously,for there's the huge, huge
health benefits, mental healthbenefits, all those things but I
(09:53):
do think that there iscertainly with with my two kids
there is, you know, the youngergirl has an innate attraction
and I don't know that's builtinto her to nature yeah, yeah,
that is fascinating.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
But I mean I do 100% believe that you certainly can.
You could grow up all your lifenot having that interest and
you can develop it and it can,you know, a spark it's like a
seed germinating something canjust you know take and then all
of a sudden you just findyourself becoming more and more
and more interested.
I mean you're a great exampleof that.
I mean I'm not saying, ofcourse, you were always
(10:28):
interested in nature and youappreciated it, but you just you
just love it so much now andyou're so involved and so
interested in learning moreconstantly, you know, in
relation to it but I definitelythink sort of outdoor recreation
, uh, is a gateway to learningmore about nature.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
That's within that outdoors and I think that's
where, um, the bit, the piecethat's missing in our schooling
system is that we don't havethat thread throughout our
education.
You know, and it should be partof every day, every school day,
throughout all of our 14 years,that we're in school, you know
um, and that you know that, likeI mean, I, I'm always
(11:11):
fascinated by the fact that Iwas in my um early 50s before I
learned what the 28 native treesare in Ireland.
You know, um, I thoughtsycamore was native, I thought
beech was native, so all ofthese, these things where
sometimes, as a kid, there wasinaccurate information and then
there wasn't enough of the rightinformation out there.
(11:32):
So I think, if you have thatknowledge, because you really
can't, you don't love somethinguntil you know it and are able
to name it, and you know youwon't protect it unless you care
about it, and that care comesfrom knowing its purpose,
knowing how it interacts withother creatures or other flora
and fauna together, and I thinkthat's where, for missing that
(11:55):
knowledge, the great outdoorscan always just seem like nice
to see.
You know, it's an aesthetic forthe weekend rather than an
understanding.
So I had that.
Loved the aesthetic being outclimbing, you know, hill walking
or whatever.
Loved the aesthetic, yes, thebirdsong, but didn't have that
(12:15):
connection with the importanceof knowing what these creatures
and and um, and plants are andhow they interact together and
how each one of them isimportant.
You know, like the, jenga likethe jenga blocks.
You don't want to.
If you start pulling out pieces, the whole ecosystem comes
crashing down.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
So um yeah, it's funny we said this conversation
could go in any direction.
It's education as well that Ioften talk about, um, and it's
interesting when you say thatabout the, the nature, and you
know, in a, in a, in a timewhere we do have so much in
terms of down the line troublein mental health issues and all
(12:54):
those sort of things, aconnection to nature gives
people a grounding and itdoesn't solve those issues, but
it's certainly.
It certainly paves the way fora calmer future, I would say,
and I kind of tie gardening inwith that as well.
So, you know, you know, from aneducation point of view, for
(13:15):
for kids to understand wherefood, proper food, comes from
and how to grow that proper food.
And it has everything.
It has the, the naturalbenefits of being outside, it
has mathematics in working out,you know spacings and what goes
where I think really does haveeverything.
And nature is the same, and ifyou're able to intertwine those
(13:35):
together, it's certainly.
I think it's something thatshould be in every school in
every country.
Yeah, without a doubt, yeah, Imean it should be so much more
focused on.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
But I mean, I look, I mean we talked, I mean in
relation to the.
I mean the pandemic, forinstance, of covid, and that was
a great example and everybody'saware of that how, all of a
sudden, with everything, thecessation of everything and
everything stopped.
People were just, you know, allof a sudden we're outside,
they're in the parks likegardens, and you know, I mean
it's, it's.
It used to be a bit woolly inrelation to, you know, nature
(14:08):
and it was off.
You know the benefits of it,but it's now proven, it's out
there in science.
It's been studied in suchdetail.
I mean, I know in the uk the nhswill actually prescribe, you
know, green therapy and peopleprescribe people to go in
certain circumstances, of courseyou know, to go to, to be in
blue spaces, you know, aroundponds, lakes, rivers, or to go
(14:29):
out into, you know, green spaces, woodlands, parks.
It reduces our cortisol levels,our stress levels and you know,
I think I mean in relation towoodlands, it's been proven that
going into woodlands, spendinga certain amount of time, will
actually boost your white bloodcell count.
You know the terpenoids, Ithink they're referred to or
they're called the treesreleased.
(14:50):
So there's.
It's scientifically proven nowat this stage.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So absolutely Studies about recovery as well from
people who have been in hospitalhaving an operation, that the
recovery, that the recovery isfaster if they have access to
viewing um green space.
So out a window or it doesn'tnecessarily have to be a window,
it could be a massive big umceiling to floor mural of
(15:18):
woodland and that people who hadaccess to that for the few days
recovered quicker, quicker thanthe people who had just four um
, there's amazing research andactually speaking of which we're
going to come on to now soonwildflower meadows there's.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
There was a quite a good study done in germany in
relation to the vapors or thescents that come off a
wildflower meadow and how theyincreased, you know, dopamine
levels and people were naturallyhappier in the vicinity of that
, and it was a.
It was a, it was a proper studyand the evidence was fairly
(15:55):
compelling that, you know,people were just happier in near
, in and around that environment.
It was, it was amazing, yeahyeah yeah, so, uh, we'll start
to chat about, I suppose, the,the, the changes and the
progress.
So you bought this plot of land, both coming from a corporate
background, both with interestin and concerns around
(16:16):
biodiversity collapse andclimate crisis and all these
things, and I presume when youbought it it's green fields.
Is there anything there tostart with, or what was the
initial.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, I mean just.
I suppose it's always good, Ithink, to set a baseline in
relation to the biodiversity.
I mean just as a.
I mean we were hugely concernedand are hugely concerned in
relation to biodiversity inIreland and worldwide.
But I mean just so, becausequite often we get the
perception out there is that welive on a lovely green island
(16:50):
and everything is green andwe're wonderful, and you know.
But I mean just to throw a facton it or some figures on it.
I mean, in 2018, the LondonNatural History Museum, natural
History Museum conducted a studyof biodiversity intactness, as
in the state of nativebiodiversity, in 240 nations
worldwide and Ireland came out13th worst in relation to the
(17:15):
240 nations.
So we do spend a lot of moneyin Ireland on curating a
wonderful image of a greennation, you know, but in
relation to our biodiversity,it's in a bad state.
So now it's not all doom andgloom, because there is a lot of
things beginning to happen andthere is definitely a major
swing in public willingness toact, you know, and the other one
(17:40):
is you know, since the 1970swe've lost 50% of our
biodiversity in Ireland.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So even if you were to just take those, you know
since the 1970s we've lost 50%of our biodiversity in Ireland.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
So even if you were to just take those, you know few
decades.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know that much has been lost.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
So we've lost a huge amount.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So there's a lot to gain in terms of to stop that
continuous decline because it'sstill declining.
So there's a lot to gain fromstopping that and then reversing
it.
And we, like you know, build itand they will come.
Nature is very forgiving.
Once you bring the habitatsback, it will respond positively
(18:17):
, and that's the beauty of it.
It's not rocket science.
The solution is not rocketscience.
It's really straightforward.
And it's a case of taking theaction, and we can make a
difference.
Everyone can make a difference.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
That's the great thing.
It's now really, and it was putvery succinctly there.
Recently we were at aconference down in Fote Island
there and it was said that nowis the time for action.
You know we have all thereports.
I mean we declared Irelanddeclared a biodiversity
emergency in the Dáil back in2018, 2019.
(18:53):
But nothing really happenedconcrete since then.
It sounded great and made greatnews, but now we have all the
reports and the studies andwhatever else, and now is the
time where we need to startrestoring biodiversity.
And the great thing is thateverybody can be involved in
restoring biodiversity in theirown way, so it's not something
that's beyond the reach of, youknow, of people with back
(19:15):
gardens, front gardens,courtyard everybody can play
their part in doing that.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I do think that I suppose covid played a part in
that, while the emergency wasdeclared in 2019, then we had
the covid emergency, that thatstalled things for a bit, um,
but then it did.
Things started happening moreand more, and you know there is
there is a lot going on.
I mean, if we were to go back,though, to our own example,
(19:41):
because you asked about theblank canvas the land back in
2017.
When we got it was literallyfour fields of just perennial
ryegrass.
It had been very heavily grazedby sheep and there had been
cattle on it as well, but mixedfarming, the way it used to be
done back in, say, the 70s,where there was a few cattle and
(20:04):
a few sheep a little bit ofeverything.
Biodiversity was able to liveamongst that.
You know, intensive agriculture, then, has caused a depletion
of of nature, and I supposethat's where we found it was
four fields, just grass, nothingelse.
Um, the the perimeter hedgerowwas was okay, that was
(20:26):
reasonable, um.
But so that blank canvas gave usan opportunity to say right,
what, what are we going tocreate with this?
You know how are we going towrite this story, and I think
the, the urgency was really acase of bringing habitats back,
but a variety of them, you know.
I mean, you could have easilyjust planted the whole lot, but
(20:48):
it's just trees, you know,blocked out the deer and sort of
let it do its thing.
But then we kind of felt thatwe wanted to be part of it on an
ongoing basis.
So, you know, we starteddigging ponds, planting trees,
planting hedgerow, thinkingabout wild meadow.
(21:09):
How could we um create awildflower meadow, um, and it's
it sort of evolved from there.
So, um, you can say that in inone aspect, we made it up as we
went along, you know, and Ithink the land appreciated that
because we didn't um rush in.
I mean the one thing we alwaysadvise people to to always
(21:31):
assess a habitat if you're goingto create a pond, for example,
rather than just go startdigging.
Make sure you're not destroyinga biodiversity rich habitat in
order to create another one andit might be very discreet,
looking in terms of verydelicate wildflowers that are
very unique and rare.
So, to always make sure.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
So we started working on the land and we've learned a
lot over the years.
You know we've made somemistakes along the way and we
happily share those mistakeswith people that come to us so
they can avoid making the samemistakes.
But overall it's worked out.
It's worked out well and it'sbeen heartening to see
(22:13):
biodiversity come backdefinitely to the land and to
get the responses from peoplethat have come down to us,
because I I mean what we set upwith, obviously, wild Acres.
It's a social enterprise.
So the mission really is torestore, help restore
biodiversity and try and inspireand help as many people as
possible to do the same in theiroutdoor space, whether it's a
(22:35):
courtyard or whether it's.
And we get people of all walksof life coming to us, people
that have, you know, that havean apartment and a balcony.
They want to plant somewildflowers into a pot and
create a tiny pond.
Or we've had people withhundreds of acres, who are large
scale, you know, working torestore biodiversity and, of
course, everybody in betweenwith gardens of every size yeah,
(22:56):
we we'll sort of move back tothe wild acres again and then
we'll stitch that into howpeople can sort of do this in
their own gardens.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
But, yeah, you mentioned.
So you have a variety ofdifferent habitats.
Now you know from reading yourwebsite.
You have 52 ponds, is thatright?
57 actually 57, there's moreyeah every time I have a back
turn I can't keep up with theyeah, the updated on the website
(23:30):
.
Yeah, so 15 000 native trees,or maybe more.
Yeah, yeah, no, that's, that'sabout right of wildflower
meadows and yeah, but maybe tellus about those like the trees
were the first thing, I guessyeah, well, actually just a
question as well, because we are.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
It's 34 acres we have now, because we actually signed
off last month on another 16.36acres lovely land, or 16 and a
half acres of land which is onlya few hundred meters away from
the original site.
So, um, again for biodiversity,brilliant.
So, um, so yeah, the individualhabitats on the land, as jilly
(24:06):
said, I mean we were lucky aswell.
We should mention we have thered cross river, which borders
the nature reserve, so that wasa real um bonus to get that as
well, so that brings um so muchmore wildlife in.
But, um, it was heavily grazed.
I mean, it was um the all thevegetation had been stripped
away, especially along theriver's edge, which was a real
(24:28):
problem because that's such asensitive area, that right what
they call the riparian corridor,which is basically just the the
transition from the aquatichabitat to the terrestrial
habitat.
That strip of land had beenstripped of vegetation and that
brings with it all sorts ofproblems because wildlife will
use that corridor to travelalong and to forage in.
(24:49):
It's a really important habitatand without the trees, with the
roots of the trees, reinforcingthe riverbank, there was
massive erosion problems alongthe river.
So we did a huge amount of workmyself and Gillian on that, in
restoring the riverbank.
There was massive erosionproblems along the river so we
did a huge amount of work myselfand Gillian on that, in
restoring the riverbank andreplanting that riparian
corridor with native trees.
And we also then, as I said, thewildflower meadow.
(25:11):
We have a wet wildflower meadow, four acre wildflower meadow.
This is on the original sitewhich we mostly let regenerate
itself.
But we also collected localwildflower seeds and plug,
planted some wildflowers in toincrease the diversity because
obviously, you know, with theland, with our land changed the
(25:32):
way it is all around us, youknow you haven't got that seed
bank necessarily there allaround to repopulate with a
diverse range of wildflowers.
So, for instance, we grewdevil's bit scabious from seed
and plug plants are in quite alot of oxide daisy, and then the
most famous one obviously isyellow rattle which we sewed in,
otherwise known as the meadowmaker, which is a wonderful
(25:54):
wildflower for anybody creatinga wildflower meadow.
It's fairly generalist.
It'll grow in most soil types,wet, you know, free draining.
But the crucial thing obviouslyit does is it will it's what
they call hemiparasitic, soit'll tap into the roots of
surrounding grass and drawnutrients from them, thus
obviously weakening the grassand giving a chance for more
(26:16):
delicate wildflowers to growthrough.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
So and giving a chance for more delicate
wildfires to grow through.
So yeah, Sorry, I was justgoing to mention that the new
land is very different.
So the new land is actuallymainly dry, so it's probably
again.
We haven't got stuck into itjust yet, but we're already out
the door busy.
But that 16 and a half acres, alot of that will be wild meadow
(26:46):
.
Actually, we're looking at theidea of conservation grazing on
that meadow.
We've certainly started byputting in some perimeter
hedgerow and there'll be somestands of trees as well, but a
lot of that is ideal forwildflower meadow.
Yeah and yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
so and that'll be a different wildflower meadow and
we speak about wildflowers,wildflower meadows, quite a lot
on the podcast.
As I say, I've been the one thatwas sown here and yeah, I know
no more and just let things growis one of the yeah, it's huge,
and but I suppose the and youmentioned yellow rattle, which
(27:26):
is, you know, vital in terms ofswitching from lawn situation to
wildflower meadow, and we have.
I think that in some cases, ifyou have a lawn that has been
kept as a lawn, it's quitedifficult to transition to a
wildflower meadow because, asyou said, the seed bank is not
there.
there's nothing there only youknow this, three or four lawn
(27:48):
grass species and in order totransition, you do need the help
of something like yellow rattleand your other plug plants,
anything that will give you achance to get on top of grass.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
It can be a difficult transition in people's gardens.
Yeah, I think the transition,you see, because it takes time
and, like I mean, they say it'sup to seven years to create a
wildflower meadow.
You know, and I suppose we'realways looking for the instant
hit and it can be hard to waitand have that patience year in,
year out.
It can be hard to wait and havethat patience year in, year out
.
I would always say to somebody,definitely cutting the borders,
cutting the meandering pathwaythrough, will always help to
(28:31):
make that project and if it isgoing to take sort of seven
years, you know, it makes thatproject look more defined and
sort of rather than, yeah,because the first few years can
be tricky enough, you know, andit's different whether it's in
your garden versus on on acresof land, and there's different
methods.
Um, I mean, if you like, I cangive you an example of of the
(28:53):
what we've been through the lastseven years with our meadow and
the original plot of land sowhen the first thing um is that
the livestock uh left the landend of 2017 and it's a very wet
meadow, so we we left it thefirst year.
The second year then we got itcut, um at the end of the season
(29:16):
, so it was in in September itwas.
It was cut and baled largebales, which were taken away,
and we then noticed after that,the following spring, definitely
more wildflowers coming, and wedid that for about three years
that put and lift.
But because it was really heavymachinery coming on the
(29:39):
tethering process and then theactual baling, the large bales,
they have to be lifted by aforklift.
It makes it harder then if wewanted to use some of those for
mulching around trees that weplanted.
So the year after that then wefound somebody who had a square
baler, so it was still heavymachinery for the cutting, the
(30:01):
tethering, and then we got asquare baler, so we had hundreds
of square bales which meantthat you know, easy to lift when
they're dry.
Of course, if you leave them onthey're a bit heavy when
they're wet especially in awetland area.
But we managed to get them alloff the land and again very
(30:24):
useful for mulching around treesand in the sort of polytunnel
area with the tree nursery.
But we were still veryconscious that you know it's
still really heavy machinerycoming onto the land and when it
cuts it cuts everything.
And you know when we've beencollecting yellow rattle seed
now we harvest it.
You know in sort of August timeand the amount of life in those
(30:46):
buckets.
You know when we collect it byhand, literally down on our
hands or knees, shaking the seedinto buckets and it is heaving
with you know, with caterpillarswith spiders with shield bugs
and you know, absolutely heavingwith caterpillars with spiders
with shield bugs and absolutelyheaving.
So if machinery comes in to doyour cutting, all of that is
(31:08):
just decimated, includingobviously any frogs, because
it's wetland, including thefrogs that are in there, and
everything else.
So then we said, right, wereally want to move away from
that.
So the following year afterthat then we said, right, we
really want to move away fromthat.
So the following year afterthat.
Then we said, right, let's trygoing back to traditional siding
.
So we bought a number of sides,so four acres of which is a
(31:30):
blood sport.
Yeah, yeah.
And we're certainly not.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
It's even worse when you're on blood.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And we've actually run a sythian workshop in
collaboration.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Yeah, which is very interesting.
I would actually I joke aboutthe side, but actually it's a
viable thing, certainly.
I mean, it's a wonderful um wayof cutting a wildflower meadow,
because it's so you know, it'sso sensitive in relation to the
wildlife that's there.
You're not desi, you're notcrushing everything and
decimating everything and balingeverything, so I often think
(32:04):
it's something that you know.
Now, in fairness, it wasdifficult in our land because
the grass had over a year'sgrowth and so it was heavy.
But if you've got a garden, youknow and you get a scythe and
you follow the basics of how touse it.
You can get a garden.
No time for a scythe, followthe basics on how to use it.
You can plot a garden no timeaside.
You know there's no diesel,there's no fumes If you keep it
up every year.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Before we started siding, there was a gap of a
year between the square buildingand the side there was a gap,
so that makes it extra hard.
But again, siding you're still.
Yeah, there a lot of work in it, but you know, it's great yeah,
it is, it's.
I would recommend it for smallareas.
It's really not.
So, of the four acres, wemanaged to get an acre done.
(32:44):
Well, right, um.
But going back to I mentionedearlier about conservation
grazing, there's there's hugebenefits that because, like so,
if you have, um say, cattle oncertain breeds of cattle are
really good for conservationgrazing Dexters or Dremines or
(33:06):
maybe even the Angus, aberdeenAngus and if they're in low
density, moving around yourpasture, it allows wildlife to
be part of that because,obviously, as the cows are
eating, if there's anything inthe way it'll move out of the
way and they'll graze away andwildflowers will grow.
(33:28):
I mean, if you put 100 cattlein the field they'll eat
everything, but if it's small,low density, I suppose that's
for landholding yeah, yeah forlandholding.
You're not going to do that inyour terrace garden or your
clean cattle looking over yourfence at your neighbor.
But definitely the sidingmethod, or even a sickle, or, to
(33:50):
be honest, you know I've triedit before with the shears.
So at the end of you know likewe have a tiny back garden here
in Stirlorgan so we could quitehappily go with that.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
now we mow a pathway through you cut it in half an
hour.
Oh yeah, you cut it veryquickly with the scythe.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
But if somebody didn't feel like, you know
buying a scythe and having that,you know you do it with the
sickle, which is a very smallhandout, or you could do it with
the shears, you know as well,and the lift you've got to lift
the lift.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
You take your cuttings away and leave them sit
for a while to dry and anywildfire seed to drop from the
heads and then remove them.
So you're taking nutrients away, obviously, from the soil,
demutifying the soil giving achance for the delicate
wildflowers to come through.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
So, it's interesting what you said at the start there
, because the wildflower meadowI have and I speak about it
quite a bit it looks peak for avery short window, and that
short window is probably end ofMay through to sort of end of
June, early July, and that'swhen it's at its real peak.
(35:01):
The oxide is dominating, yourtall buttercup is dominating,
and after that then it is interms of aesthetic or the.
You know what people areperceiving this.
Yes, yes, yes, it is, it is yes,it is going downwards from
there, but the life in it isunbelievable so unbelievable.
(35:23):
I certainly have my view and myinitial idea for the wildflower
meadow was cut it, cut out,mowing or a certain amount of
mowing.
And obviously, looking for thataesthetic and I did I I
probably know more than the thenormal person doing it I knew I
was going to have periods whereit wasn't going to look perfect,
(35:44):
but the window is quite small,but it has changed.
For me, the aesthetic, the sixweeks are lovely, they're a
bonus, but everything that hashappened as a result of that is
what has really excited me there.
Yeah, the, everything fromspiders to beetles.
You know every sort of that.
I don't even know what a lot ofthem are, but it is just alive
(36:06):
all year, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
it's just we know, I mean it definitely, it's a
mindset and I think that's thecrucial word applies, I suppose,
to a lot of aspects of ourgardening.
You know that we just have toallow space for nature and the
days of just those closelycropped billiard table type lawn
and you know that flower bedthat's cleaned nearly like a
(36:28):
carpet, where all the materialsare taken away in the autumn.
In the autumn, I mean that'slike in the countryside, that
green field sward of lush greenryegrass that's cut three times
a year for silage.
Both of those are deserts forbiodiversity.
I mean you do fall in love.
I mean our meadow is the same,the wet wild farm, and it's a
(36:51):
riot of colour in the spring,you know, with cardamom
potensias, with cuckoo flowerand creeping buttercup.
And then you know it goes onand you look at it as the summer
goes on, it takes on a goldenhue with the grasses, but even
then we get a bit of knapweedthen coming through towards
later in the season and thedevil's bit scabious.
(37:11):
You know Beautiful.
But you know nature tells youwhat's right and what's wrong
and we look at the swallows.
You know hunting over the field, you know hoovering up the
insects and, as you just saidyou look at what's beneath the
sword.
You know you see all the shieldbugs and the caterpillars and
the spiders and it's justmind-blowing the life that's in
(37:32):
there really is but actuallygoing.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Going back to the aesthetics, I'm kind of looking
out at our patch there in thesmall garden and right now, so I
think it looks great.
Now the sun is shining, sothat's an advantage, but right
now you can see there's lots ofdandelion in bloom, there's
oxalate Loads of cowslipactually so cowslip it started
off a few years ago at the backgarden just one plant of it, and
(37:57):
now this year I can see there'sat least seven or eight cowslip
clumps, and so they're in bloomright now and then the plantain
.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
it looks good as well .
Speaker 2 (38:10):
There's oxeye daisy yarrow Coming through, they'll
replace that will be, you know,oxeye, daisy and yarrow.
But the people coming throughthat will replace that will be,
you know, oxeye, daisy andyarrow and knapweed.
And so you can actually havefrom spring right through to
autumn, that succession planting.
You know that people like ifyou were doing formal borders.
You know that people plan forthat.
But you can do the same withnative wildflowers.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
There's figwort down the bottom Fig.
I figure it's a reallyinteresting plant.
It is Wasps.
Absolutely adore it, love it.
I know, when you say wasps,most people they balk and
they'll think.
But there's a great example ofhow we need to just really
reconnect with.
I mean wasps are so important,you know, in relation to the
niche they fill in the ecosystemand in the control of other
insects.
(38:49):
That word pests, I think, is aterrible word I mean but but you
know they'll control the likesof green flies and black flies.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
I want to get back to the aesthetics, because I'm
looking out at the card chairand I just wanted to mention
another idea, just thatobviously we do the cut and lift
in the autumn, but we do leaveareas where we don't cut and
lift.
So say, for example, right nowI'm looking at these lovely tall
knapweed um seed heads thatobviously there's no seed in
(39:19):
them any longer, but you havethe, the stalk and the, the
dried flower head, yeah, andit's standing up, yeah, when
everything else is kind of more,uh, low growing at the moment,
like the dandelion and cowslipand um, you know, actually I
love the dandelion clocks, youknow, when they go to seed I
think they look very pretty aswell, and the goldfinch.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Love them and the house farmers were eating money.
Yesterday I was looking at theseed.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
But the remnants of last year's knackweed looks very
aesthetically pleasing inamongst that, you know For sure.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
In terms of the podcast, I had Sandra Cofola on,
it was one of the of.
Uh.
In terms of the podcast, I hadsandra kafola on, it was one of
the first episodes or one of theearly episodes back in 2020,
and so sandra sandra is geniusin wildflowers, um, but yeah,
yeah, yeah, one of his in inthat podcast.
Uh, there's a line that justkeeps coming back to me all the
time.
So somebody questioned him andsaid there's no, there's no
(40:15):
color in the wildflower meadowin the winter and he said what
do you mean?
there's no color.
You have the gold finches, thebull finches yes, it's, it's a
perception thing.
So there's no flower, or noflower of mention, but there is
all these seed heads there, anda great example again is the
napweed out the front of myhouse.
(40:36):
So you'll have the goldfinchesand they'll be hanging off it.
It'll be bent like a fishing rodand the the goldfinches are
just hanging there eating theseed heads yeah, it's just
amazing to see that but it is aperception change because in in
the, in the eye of, if you'relooking at it, versus the
postcard of a fully fledged inflower meadow, it looks like
(40:59):
it's gone over that.
It isn't overly beautiful, butwhen you see a goldfinch, as I
say, hanging off the head of anapweed, there's nothing more
beautiful.
But it's just a different.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
It's a different beautiful and also maybe I think
if we got active in thatenvironment at that time of year
as well, it would help.
So say, as well as thegoldfinch being able to to feed
off the seed, that if wecollected the seed by hand, so
again that you know the seedthat is in our area is more
suited to the land of the area.
(41:31):
So ideally if we were allcollecting it and it gets you
connected with that autumnnature by doing that collecting
the seed, and then learning howto then propagate that on into
plug plants to then plant out inyour own garden, so that you're
not actually having tonecessarily go out and buy
wildflower seeds, that you'reactually generating that
(41:51):
yourself.
You know it can be done.
I mean an example which we didactually only the last couple of
weeks actually go out and buywildflower seeds that you're
actually generating thatyourself.
You know it can be done.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
I mean an example which we did actually only the
last couple of weeks actually,which we, again, we were all
learning every day, and one wascardamom pretenses, cuckoo
flower, lady smock, which is,again, you know, you talk about
the interdependency between ourflora and our fauna and how
important native plants are.
You know, as opposed to you knowus filling completely our
gardens with non-native plants.
(42:16):
You know the orange tipbutterflies now, which are out
in force at wild acres andthey're so larval food well,
also hedge mustard, but theirmain larval food plant is
cardamom pretenses, cuckooflower, and we actually only
just found out there a coupleweeks ago.
You can propagate that fromleaf cuttings, and all you do is
get a whole load of leafcuttings, put them in a ziplock
bag with some rainwater, leavethem in the sunlight and they'll
(42:38):
all root.
And we have some of them, about100 of them, in a Ziploc bag
here on the windowsill.
They've all sent out thesethread-like roots so they can
all be propagated intoindividual plants.
So it is fascinating, all thesethings, all these ways of
propagating.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
I'm conscious that we're sort of heading towards
the end.
But one thing I want to go backto and I know you have
workshops on this, but thewildlife ponds, so tell us about
those, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
Okay, have we got another three hours?
Speaker 1 (43:12):
I have but I don't know, have you guys got three
hours?
Speaker 3 (43:15):
No yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, they're just dynamite, they
are just, you know.
In a nutshell, I mean, you knowwe planted thousands of native
trees and we've our tree nurseryand I always think that you
know an oak tree, first 300years, class of juvenile, next
300 years, middle age, next 300,last 300 years veteran.
You know, and so you planttrees in a way for the next
(43:37):
generation.
You know woodland, but you diga wildlife pond and wildlife
will find, sometimes withinhours, because a lot of the
incredible, fascinatingcreatures that you're going to
get in your wildlife ponds.
You know diving beetles ofvarious different species.
You know water scorpions, waterstick insects, water boatmen,
they can all fly and they allfind that water habitat, that
(44:00):
newly dug habitat or createdwildlife pond.
They'll fly at night to avoidpredation.
They pick up the glint ofstarlight and moonlight on a
water surface and that's howthey find new habitats.
But water just attracts in somuch biodiversity.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
I mean, all life needs water, so it sort of makes
sense, doesn't it?
Speaker 3 (44:20):
We need.
I mean, it's so relaxing tohave.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
What's that saying?
That a garden without a pond islike a theatre without a stage.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
That's really out of the question.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
I didn't make that up myself.
I didn't make that up myself.
I put it a bit more basicallythan that.
It's a bit like the fireplacein a living room.
It's that centre stage, that awildlife pond and again because
you want them to be located in asunny area so they're not
hidden away in the corner.
They are actually become thecentre stage.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
You put them somewhere that you can see them,
as we always recommend topeople Like the fire.
They are actually become thecentre stage.
You put them somewhere that youcan see them, as we always
recommend to people Like thefire we all gather around the
fire.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
It's like the same.
You know a pond, everythingcomes to it.
You know the birds will come into drink and bathe and to feed,
obviously for insects over thepond.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
so you'll find, yeah, I mean, we've 57 ponds at
Wildegres but we've one smallpond here in our garden.
Still remember we were sayingthere, in the space of in the
space of two hours.
There last summer, during oneof the hot spells, we counted 11
different bird species cameinto the pond just to drink and
to bathe.
They're just such a haven forwildlife and there's I mean,
what you know on a day liketoday and it's a beautiful day
(45:32):
you have to be able to sit out,if you have the time, with a cup
of tea and a deck chair, andsit by the pond.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
It's so relaxing yeah , let's try it sometime yeah, um
, speaking of speaking of, uh,your ponds and the creation of
ponds.
So workshops are a big team, ofwhat you guys do and, yeah, and
I know one of the workshops ishow to create your own wildlife
ponds.
So maybe talk us through someof the workshops.
Speaker 2 (45:58):
I know you've good few upcomings, so tell us about
some of those yeah, yeah, um, soyeah for me, like may's a busy
month as well for us.
So we, we do, we do a honeytour.
I'll give you an example.
So we, we do have an apiarydown at wild acres, a small
number of hives again, we don'twant to flood the land with
honeybees, but it's a smallnumber of hives and we're
(46:21):
producing honey sustainablybecause it's important that
we're able to produce food inour country.
But it's how we produce thisthat's key.
The honey tour is really.
It's a relaxing sort ofimmersive morning learning about
the importance of, before wethink about, you know, having
hives.
That it's about what are theplants that are around, so the
(46:44):
hedgerow full of floweringplants, and you know, the ground
flora, that there's enough foodfor the honeybees, but also all
the other bee species, thebumblebees and solitary bees
that are so important, andthey're the ones actually that
are threatened at the moment interms of population and species.
So the honey tour is a lovelyrelaxing focus on how honey is
(47:08):
produced by our wonderful nativeIrish honeybee and then how we
would bring that from hive intojar.
But we do talk a lot aboutbiodiversity and about native
plants, whether it's trees,whether it's hedgerow, whether
it's bramble.
I mean, you know people cursebramble, but it's one of the
most important plants.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
A lot of the plants we've been talking about are the
most important for biodiversityBrambles and nettles and
ragwort they're all incredibleDogs, you know, yeah, so the
Honey Tour is really.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
It's about producing food sustainably and in tune
with nature and, yeah, a lotabout biodiversity.
It's a lovely, relaxing morning.
The Guide to Nature experience,then, is just that it's about
that immersion in nature for afew hours through the nature
reserve, but also showing we doa lot of biodiversity monitoring
(48:01):
, so we take trail camerafootage, take a lot of
photographs and some aerialstuff as well, and so we have
that to show people inpresentation format, because on
the day itself, depending on theseason, you'll see certain
creatures out, but you won't seeeverything, so you know,
whether it's the red kite or thewoodpeckers or the kingfisher
(48:25):
fishing on the main pond.
All of these things were able toshow people through an audio
visual presentation, as well asdoing the guide guided tour
around the nature reserve which,to have to say, most every day
seems to be sunny when we'redoing that, and we're very lucky
with the weather um, there'salways tea and coffee and
bickies as well, um, and then wehave a gardening for
(48:48):
biodiversity workshop too, andand that's more focused on
people who love gardening, havegardens but want to do more to
bring more nature into thatenvironment.
So it's a lovely, immersiveexperience covering anything
from ponds to hedgerow, nativehedgerow to pollinator beds and
(49:08):
wildflower lawns yeah, and then,of course, the ponds workshop.
Yeah, biggie, that's it.
That's a huge one.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
That's the one that you know sells out the quickest,
yeah, so so on that one, peoplelearn how to create a wildlife
pond in their garden, and theycan scale it up or down
depending on the size of thegarden.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Yeah, I mean, we have , as I say, 57 ponds.
We've one which is the size ofa football pitch and everything
in between, right the way downto a micro pond made from a
recycled flower bucket, you know, so somebody could put it on a
balcony, for instance.
So you know, we cover the wholetopic of ponds, as to how you
build them of every size, howyou maintain them.
We show people the wildlifethat they bring in and, yeah,
(49:52):
it's just a purpose from startto finish.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
Yeah, from garden ponds to countryside everything
in between and um ponds thatwill be lined um you know ponds
that don't need to be lined tocheck.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
Do you need to?
Do you actually have to, or doyou need a liner in the first
place and where to site them?
Speaker 2 (50:10):
how to manage them.
How to manage them?
So yeah, track the biodiversityin them.
You know the pond dips and um,enjoy the wonderful creatures.
Speaker 3 (50:18):
So yeah, every after yeah, we get lots of people
would come.
People tend to love it and theysend us in pictures.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
Then, weeks later upon, they've created so, yeah,
we love to get the photos afterit's over.
Yeah, I imagine that's that'svery satisfying.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Yeah, and so I know you're adding workshops all the
time and there's workshopsthrough a lot of a lot of the
months of the year.
So I will put the link to thein the show notes.
You know where people can findum all these different workshops
and you know you'll see thefuture ones coming up and all
that before we sort of round off.
(50:52):
Um I mentioned uh, listeners ofthe podcast are probably sick
of me talking about it Veryexcited, two very exciting
things happened in a gardensetting here.
Got the bull finches in for thefirst time last year which I
know for some people is notexciting, because they're
widespread in certain places,but we never had them here, so
to get them in was brilliant,and then last just before
(51:14):
Christmas we got, uh, thewoodpecker in and oh wow, yeah
yeah.
So a friend of mine a couple ofyears ago who only lives about
three miles away he saw one onhis bird feeder sent me a
picture of it and it was awoodpecker, but I definitely
hadn't seen any here.
And then just around Christmastime, every day for about a week
(51:36):
I saw a woodpecker in thegarden and that was very
exciting, for me, but for youguys for you guys, on the scale
that you're at, what have beenthe most exciting things that
have happened.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
I would say yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:51):
That's it.
Yeah, I would say just.
Speaker 3 (51:53):
Of course, there is some standout moments, you know,
obviously the otters every day.
In January on our main wildlifepond, which is very unusual we
had a dog otter coming up andhunting just in broad daylight,
foraging in the pond.
So we actually got someincredible footage where,
because his eyesight wasn't thatgreat, we were able to walk
(52:15):
down in front of it and it wasliterally about three, four foot
away from the camera and it wasthere, scratching itself,
rolling over like a dog on thegrass, and then you could see.
Every now and then it wouldsense that maybe there's
something there and would lookup and smell.
The wind was in the rightdirection.
So this went on for about three, four minutes and then
eventually went into the pondand was foraging around looking
(52:37):
for frogs and dragonfly nymphsand then eventually just twigged
with something that went off.
But I would say overall, justthe amount, just being the
pleasure of seeing naturerebound.
You know from what was a desert, you know seeing biodiversity
coming back, and that's so itwas.
It's hard work, I'll be honestwith you, and it can be
depressing work, you know, inrelation to the overall scale of
(52:59):
things.
So it is.
I mean just you know, when youlook at the trends, you know in
relation to biodiversity lossand you see the headlines.
It can be quite dishearteningat times, but on the plus side
definitely there is a lot.
There is a major swing towardsthe want to restore biodiversity
in Ireland.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
Yeah, I'd say, as well as the biodiversity
returning, the people that cometo us are amazing so everybody
that's come is just so lovely.
And I like to say that, like so,we started.
This is the start of our fourthyear doing workshops and tours
and events, doing workshops andtours and events and I have to
(53:40):
say everybody has just beenlovely, because people who want
to take action for nature I justtend to have that really good
heart they want to, to, to takeaction and do something and
learn what they can do.
So that's really yeah, yeah no,it is.
Speaker 3 (53:52):
Yeah, that's very hard actually, and there's a lot
more people taking action.
Yeah, that's the good, that'sdefinitely the plus.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah, yeah, for sure and I I understand what you're
saying in that.
Uh, it can be depressing if youlook at the overall, yeah, the
overall broader picture and you,yeah, you feel against the face
of that, or or we feel asindividuals in the face of that,
that we're, you know, lookingup a really, really steep cliff
and and it's hard to move theneedle.
(54:19):
But, yeah, it is incredible,the compounding interest of
small, small projects and smallsteps and, you know, multiplied
across many gardens, across manyfarms across many you many
situations like yourselves.
How that compounds and changesthe direction.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Hopefully, yeah, yeah , I can feel that, I can
definitely feel that, actuallyand that's one thing we'd like
to just stress as well I meanyou said it there so perfectly,
but just to add to it, you know,everybody that's, you know, in
relation to the biodiversitycrisis especially, everybody can
have a huge impact.
I mean, if you've got anoutdoor space of any size and
you create a little pocket ofhabitat and somebody two, three,
(55:03):
four doors up does the same andsomeone else does the same,
you're creating that wonderfulthing, connectivity in the
landscape and all these pocketsof habitat, so wildlife can move
throughout the landscape fromyour garden to the next garden
three doors up, and on and onand on, and that has a massive
positive impact even apart fromour well-being which we talked
about, which is huge.
(55:23):
So yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (55:25):
I was just going to say the woodpeckers were a
highlight for us too, by the way.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (55:29):
And still are.
Hang a peanut feeder out inyour garden, one of the rigid,
mesh ones in the winter, and ifthey're there they'll be in
absolutely now I have to saythat one.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
I looked out.
It was a bit of a shock.
So it was early one morningmaking breakfast and the next
day I looked out and it was just.
It was just such a shock.
And then to come back for fouror five days in a row and I was
just delighted I haven't seenthem just recently and I'm not
overly worried about that, but Ithink the fact that they're on
(56:00):
the move towards our direction,I think I'm yeah, that's a good
news story.
Speaker 3 (56:04):
They're actually doing very well.
Speaker 2 (56:06):
I think they've been recorded.
Speaker 3 (56:07):
Yeah, they're in every county.
They re-colonised back thereabout 20 years on this,
especially on the east coast,into Glenwood and the Down.
Now they've spread.
So, yeah, that's a good newsstory.
Speaker 1 (56:16):
Yeah, for sure for sure, really interested to get
up and see your place during theyear.
Speaker 2 (56:24):
Yeah, important.
Speaker 1 (56:25):
Sounds amazing, looks amazing.
It's a really good story.
Congratulations and well doneon what you've achieved so far.
By the sounds of both of you.
You're definitely not stopping.
You're pushing and developingfurther and, yeah, you can hear
the enthusiasm from yourself, soit's phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (56:44):
Thank you.
Thank you very much, I'll seeyou.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
Lovely to be a part of this podcast.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (56:49):
It's been a pleasure talking to you.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
So a huge thanks to Gillian Bright for coming on.
For any of you listening andwatching you can feel and see
the enthusiasm you know fromfrom the two of them, the, the
work that's been done there, thethe effort to change the needle
, I guess in terms of what'shappening is is there for all to
see those workshops.
You know all the various ones.
There's hugely beneficialinformation for people to take
(57:16):
and implement in their owngardens and even from an
awareness piece to you know, toengage with you know wild acres
and become aware of what'shappening and the changes that
are happening out there.
I think is hugely important.
I'll put the link for thecourses and the website and so
on in the show notes, butdefinitely check them out.
(57:37):
It's a phenomenal place.
I heard about it from Rosie May, the insomniac gardener.
She had been to visit and shesaid it was a fabulous place and
really worth going to.
So yeah, that's where I heardabout it, but it's certainly
worth checking out foryourselves.
Check out the courses, checkout the you know, visit if you
(58:00):
can, and so on.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening.
Thank you, you.
how's it going, everybody, and welcome to
episode 275 of master my gardenpodcast.
So this week's episode is anexciting one.
So up in county wicklow there'sa project ongoing called Wild
Acres Nature Reserve and it wasstarted by Bryna Toole and
Gillie Taylor and it's afascinating place.
It was actually.
(00:34):
I had heard about it about ayear ago and have since been
following on Instagram.
It's I about 18 acres, but ithas 52 ponds, has 15,000 native
trees planted over the last fewyears, has four acres of
wildflower meadows.
I have about a 400 square meterwildflower meadow and I think
(00:56):
I'm great, but there's fouracres of this here and it has
become an education center, anature reserve, and there's
loads of ongoing workshops thatare going on all through the
summer.
So things like how to create awildlife pond, which we speak
about on the podcast and havespoken about on the podcast
before.
There's ones on beekeeping andloads of sort of related
(01:23):
workshops as we go through.
But it's a fascinating project.
There's what has happened inthe transformation we're going
to hear about now in a minute,but there's.
It's like you know what I'vesaid with my little wildflower
meadow when you create anenvironment or a habitat, the
wildlife will come, and I'veseen that with my first pair of
bullfinches that I keep harpingon about on the podcast.
(01:45):
Never had them before and theyhave come in as a result of it.
So if you can imagine justscaling up that and the amount
of you know different wildlifethat will come in off the back
of that, it's amazing.
So, brian and Gillian, you'revery, very welcome to Master my
Garden podcast thank you verymuch.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Pleasure to be here, pleasure to meet you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah so it's afascinating project.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Um, I suppose the first place we need to start is
where exactly this idea, orbrainchild, or what was the
catalyst for the idea and youknow, and then we'll start to
move through.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, yeah okay, well , I'll, I'll.
I'll start because Briandoesn't like talking about
himself too much, so I'm goingto start on that one, because
I'm going to tell you about thewild child that he was.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, you make me sound like a rock star.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Wild child from a nature point of view.
TVs at the hotel window, that'sreally where it all started, I
suppose with Brian as a childgrowing up in Dublin and Cabin
Tealy had access out the back ofthe garden through a gap into a
native woodland with themeandering streams with it.
(03:00):
And you know you really just asa youth, were just drawn to
nature and spent your time inthat and I'm always fascinated
like listening to this as astory growing up.
You know, and um a couple ofsiblings that might never have
set foot in the woodland but youknow he was one of those um
children that was naturallygifted with this um draw to
(03:23):
nature and wanting to find outmore.
And you know upturning stones,finding out about the bugs and
creatures that are there andrescuing jackdaws and badgers
and any animals that are introuble.
And you know to spend that timeimmersed in nature as a small
child with and obviously back inthe day you had a lot of
(03:45):
freedom that you weren't in.
There wasn't the helicopterparent day, you know there was
sort of.
You know he was allowed tospend time there alone and
really just immerse in natureand I think from there it kind
of grew with you.
You know constantly reading andwatching David Attenborough and
Jacques Cousteau and books andencyclopedias going to the
(04:07):
library, so that love of naturewas always there.
And I think that's really wherethe journey began.
For you, am I?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
right.
Yeah, I mean, if I just listen,thank you, I take the naturally
gifted bit.
I tell you what that doesn't gooff, but look, listen, it's
been.
Yeah, I mean, and it is oftensomething I wonder about, you
know, are we born with the loveof nature or is it something
that develops?
And I, you know, um, I thinksometimes you can be born with
it, definitely, you know, Iremember as a kid since I was
(04:35):
could walk, being fascinated bynature.
But I mean, even you yourself,jillian, I mean, you've always
been, um, you grew up, or both,from south dublin.
You grew up very local to hereas well and you were always into
the outdoor life.
And Gillie's a ski instructorand has always been into outdoor
pursuits, trekking and skiing.
And you know, just in the last,you know, since we bought the
(04:56):
land, we had this desire tomaybe buy some land and change
direction.
We both worked in corporatecareers for 30 odd years and we
just saw the biodiversity crisisand interlinked climate they're
totally inseparable climatecrisis unfolding and we just
want to do something, to do thebest we can and have an impact,
(05:19):
and that was to buy land.
And, as I said, ginny just hasbecome completely immersed in it
and, as I said Ginny, just hasbecome completely.
You've become completelyimmersed in it and it's just
mesmerising as to how muchyou've.
You know it's 24-7,.
You know, in relation to theimmersion in biodiversity and
your study of biodiversity, Ithink it's interesting to think,
(05:39):
though, that there's two verydifferent examples.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
So, brian, who was naturally drawn to it and and
and learned about it, you knowour native flora and fauna since
he was a small child andcontinued that all the way
through his life, whereas for me, while always interested in the
great outdoors, I never delvedinto the detail of the flora,
the flora and fauna you know um,and in school you didn't really
(06:04):
get that you know, other thanthe nature table in junior and
senior infants.
It didn't continue onthroughout school, so I didn't,
but in the seven years since westarted with when we got the
land, I suppose have been.
Yeah, as you said, brian, I'vebeen studying.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
It's not just studying, you've been infatuated
, I've been totally drawn to it.
It's not just studying, it'sbeing infatuated.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I'm absolutely loving it, totally drawn to it,
totally drawn to it and kind offeel that it's never too late to
learn.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
No, that's the great thing.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
And no one knows it all.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
That's the other great thing.
I mean you don't have to knowthe Latin names of every plant
and every animal to be totallyawestruck by the beauty of the
biodiversity we have here inIreland to be totally awestruck
by the beauty of thebiodiversity we have here in
Ireland.
And that's something we reallytry and impress upon people.
Not impress upon them, that'sthe wrong term, but show them.
And we do show it to peoplethat come down to us.
We have stunning biodiversity.
(06:54):
I mean, just the weekend we didCreating a Wildlife Ponds
workshop.
As part of the workshop we do apond dip beforehand before the
attendees come down and we putall the wildlife out in trays on
the table and you know, showpeople as to what's in the ponds
and they're totally blown away.
They'll see water scorpions anddragonfly nymphs and newts and
(07:15):
tadpoles and water boatmen.
There's just so muchbiodiversity there and we show
them videos of kingfisher we'vetaken coming in and fishing off
the perch in one of our mainponds and a pair of otters
coming up on the trail cameracoming in from pond to pond
hunting for frogs.
And there's just so muchincredible biodiversity there.
Yeah, so it is something, andthat's that's just leading off
(07:38):
from that train of thought.
You know you don't have to.
You don't have to have grown upin that environment to fall in
love with it and fullyappreciate it and open up a
whole new area of your life, youknow, in relation to what's out
there, beyond the front doorand the back door, to enjoy.
And you don't have to haveacres of land either, even a
small garden you can attract inbiodiversity and be blown away
(08:00):
by it.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah, for sure, and we'll get to that how people can
sort of do their their littlebits in the garden.
But something, somethinginteresting there struck me as
you were having that, and Istarted thinking to myself.
You were drawn as a small childto nature, and your siblings
less so.
And, uh, you know, I think oneof one of you asked the question
(08:22):
, you know, is it a case thatcertain people are drawn to it
and others not so much?
And I wonder that, as, as you,as you were talking there, I
have a 16 year old and I have asix year old.
Both of them love nature.
Both of them.
Both of them are, you know, likethe outdoors more yeah but
strangely enough thesix-year-old has an unbelievable
(08:45):
desire to know stuff aboutanimals, about insects.
Yeah, yeah, yeah and I think forme here it becomes very obvious
.
So you know, sometimes when theweather is bad or whatever, and
they can't get out, orparticularly she can't get out,
she can get a little bit pent upin herself and we just, we just
look at one another and we sayshe needs to get outside.
(09:06):
Yeah, within 10 minutes ofbeing out in the polytunnel with
me, or within you know,literally minutes, she
completely changes everything,relaxes down she's digging up,
as, as you guys mentioned, sheshe's digging up all types of
little creatures.
(09:26):
She creates little homes forthem.
Yeah, and it's amazing to see.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Isn't it?
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I think life in general creates a disconnect,
whether by design or not, Idon't know, but it creates a
disconnect between us and natureand I think it's massively
important that that connectionis maintained.
It's good for us, obviously,for there's the huge, huge
health benefits, mental healthbenefits, all those things but I
(09:53):
do think that there iscertainly with with my two kids
there is, you know, the youngergirl has an innate attraction
and I don't know that's builtinto her to nature yeah, yeah,
that is fascinating.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
But I mean I do 100% believe that you certainly can.
You could grow up all your lifenot having that interest and
you can develop it and it can,you know, a spark it's like a
seed germinating something canjust you know take and then all
of a sudden you just findyourself becoming more and more
and more interested.
I mean you're a great exampleof that.
I mean I'm not saying, ofcourse, you were always
(10:28):
interested in nature and youappreciated it, but you just you
just love it so much now andyou're so involved and so
interested in learning moreconstantly, you know, in
relation to it but I definitelythink sort of outdoor recreation
, uh, is a gateway to learningmore about nature.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
That's within that outdoors and I think that's
where, um, the bit, the piecethat's missing in our schooling
system is that we don't havethat thread throughout our
education.
You know, and it should be partof every day, every school day,
throughout all of our 14 years,that we're in school, you know
um, and that you know that, likeI mean, I, I'm always
(11:11):
fascinated by the fact that Iwas in my um early 50s before I
learned what the 28 native treesare in Ireland.
You know, um, I thoughtsycamore was native, I thought
beech was native, so all ofthese, these things where
sometimes, as a kid, there wasinaccurate information and then
there wasn't enough of the rightinformation out there.
(11:32):
So I think, if you have thatknowledge, because you really
can't, you don't love somethinguntil you know it and are able
to name it, and you know youwon't protect it unless you care
about it, and that care comesfrom knowing its purpose,
knowing how it interacts withother creatures or other flora
and fauna together, and I thinkthat's where, for missing that
(11:55):
knowledge, the great outdoorscan always just seem like nice
to see.
You know, it's an aesthetic forthe weekend rather than an
understanding.
So I had that.
Loved the aesthetic being outclimbing, you know, hill walking
or whatever.
Loved the aesthetic, yes, thebirdsong, but didn't have that
(12:15):
connection with the importanceof knowing what these creatures
and and um, and plants are andhow they interact together and
how each one of them isimportant.
You know, like the, jenga likethe jenga blocks.
You don't want to.
If you start pulling out pieces, the whole ecosystem comes
crashing down.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
So um yeah, it's funny we said this conversation
could go in any direction.
It's education as well that Ioften talk about, um, and it's
interesting when you say thatabout the, the nature, and you
know, in a, in a, in a timewhere we do have so much in
terms of down the line troublein mental health issues and all
(12:54):
those sort of things, aconnection to nature gives
people a grounding and itdoesn't solve those issues, but
it's certainly.
It certainly paves the way fora calmer future, I would say,
and I kind of tie gardening inwith that as well.
So, you know, you know, from aneducation point of view, for
(13:15):
for kids to understand wherefood, proper food, comes from
and how to grow that proper food.
And it has everything.
It has the, the naturalbenefits of being outside, it
has mathematics in working out,you know spacings and what goes
where I think really does haveeverything.
And nature is the same, and ifyou're able to intertwine those
(13:35):
together, it's certainly.
I think it's something thatshould be in every school in
every country.
Yeah, without a doubt, yeah, Imean it should be so much more
focused on.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
But I mean, I look, I mean we talked, I mean in
relation to the.
I mean the pandemic, forinstance, of covid, and that was
a great example and everybody'saware of that how, all of a
sudden, with everything, thecessation of everything and
everything stopped.
People were just, you know, allof a sudden we're outside,
they're in the parks likegardens, and you know, I mean
it's, it's.
It used to be a bit woolly inrelation to, you know, nature
(14:08):
and it was off.
You know the benefits of it,but it's now proven, it's out
there in science.
It's been studied in suchdetail.
I mean, I know in the uk the nhswill actually prescribe, you
know, green therapy and peopleprescribe people to go in
certain circumstances, of courseyou know, to go to, to be in
blue spaces, you know, aroundponds, lakes, rivers, or to go
(14:29):
out into, you know, green spaces, woodlands, parks.
It reduces our cortisol levels,our stress levels and you know,
I think I mean in relation towoodlands, it's been proven that
going into woodlands, spendinga certain amount of time, will
actually boost your white bloodcell count.
You know the terpenoids, Ithink they're referred to or
they're called the treesreleased.
(14:50):
So there's.
It's scientifically proven nowat this stage.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So absolutely Studies about recovery as well from
people who have been in hospitalhaving an operation, that the
recovery, that the recovery isfaster if they have access to
viewing um green space.
So out a window or it doesn'tnecessarily have to be a window,
it could be a massive big umceiling to floor mural of
(15:18):
woodland and that people who hadaccess to that for the few days
recovered quicker, quicker thanthe people who had just four um
, there's amazing research andactually speaking of which we're
going to come on to now soonwildflower meadows there's.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
There was a quite a good study done in germany in
relation to the vapors or thescents that come off a
wildflower meadow and how theyincreased, you know, dopamine
levels and people were naturallyhappier in the vicinity of that
, and it was a.
It was a, it was a proper studyand the evidence was fairly
(15:55):
compelling that, you know,people were just happier in near
, in and around that environment.
It was, it was amazing, yeahyeah yeah, so, uh, we'll start
to chat about, I suppose, the,the, the changes and the
progress.
So you bought this plot of land, both coming from a corporate
background, both with interestin and concerns around
(16:16):
biodiversity collapse andclimate crisis and all these
things, and I presume when youbought it it's green fields.
Is there anything there tostart with, or what was the
initial.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, I mean just.
I suppose it's always good, Ithink, to set a baseline in
relation to the biodiversity.
I mean just as a.
I mean we were hugely concernedand are hugely concerned in
relation to biodiversity inIreland and worldwide.
But I mean just so, becausequite often we get the
perception out there is that welive on a lovely green island
(16:50):
and everything is green andwe're wonderful, and you know.
But I mean just to throw a facton it or some figures on it.
I mean, in 2018, the LondonNatural History Museum, natural
History Museum conducted a studyof biodiversity intactness, as
in the state of nativebiodiversity, in 240 nations
worldwide and Ireland came out13th worst in relation to the
(17:15):
240 nations.
So we do spend a lot of moneyin Ireland on curating a
wonderful image of a greennation, you know, but in
relation to our biodiversity,it's in a bad state.
So now it's not all doom andgloom, because there is a lot of
things beginning to happen andthere is definitely a major
swing in public willingness toact, you know, and the other one
(17:40):
is you know, since the 1970swe've lost 50% of our
biodiversity in Ireland.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
So even if you were to just take those, you know
since the 1970s we've lost 50%of our biodiversity in Ireland.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
So even if you were to just take those, you know few
decades.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know that much has been lost.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
So we've lost a huge amount.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So there's a lot to gain in terms of to stop that
continuous decline because it'sstill declining.
So there's a lot to gain fromstopping that and then reversing
it.
And we, like you know, build itand they will come.
Nature is very forgiving.
Once you bring the habitatsback, it will respond positively
(18:17):
, and that's the beauty of it.
It's not rocket science.
The solution is not rocketscience.
It's really straightforward.
And it's a case of taking theaction, and we can make a
difference.
Everyone can make a difference.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
That's the great thing.
It's now really, and it was putvery succinctly there.
Recently we were at aconference down in Fote Island
there and it was said that nowis the time for action.
You know we have all thereports.
I mean we declared Irelanddeclared a biodiversity
emergency in the Dáil back in2018, 2019.
(18:53):
But nothing really happenedconcrete since then.
It sounded great and made greatnews, but now we have all the
reports and the studies andwhatever else, and now is the
time where we need to startrestoring biodiversity.
And the great thing is thateverybody can be involved in
restoring biodiversity in theirown way, so it's not something
that's beyond the reach of, youknow, of people with back
(19:15):
gardens, front gardens,courtyard everybody can play
their part in doing that.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
I do think that I suppose covid played a part in
that, while the emergency wasdeclared in 2019, then we had
the covid emergency, that thatstalled things for a bit, um,
but then it did.
Things started happening moreand more, and you know there is
there is a lot going on.
I mean, if we were to go back,though, to our own example,
(19:41):
because you asked about theblank canvas the land back in
2017.
When we got it was literallyfour fields of just perennial
ryegrass.
It had been very heavily grazedby sheep and there had been
cattle on it as well, but mixedfarming, the way it used to be
done back in, say, the 70s,where there was a few cattle and
(20:04):
a few sheep a little bit ofeverything.
Biodiversity was able to liveamongst that.
You know, intensive agriculture, then, has caused a depletion
of of nature, and I supposethat's where we found it was
four fields, just grass, nothingelse.
Um, the the perimeter hedgerowwas was okay, that was
(20:26):
reasonable, um.
But so that blank canvas gave usan opportunity to say right,
what, what are we going tocreate with this?
You know how are we going towrite this story, and I think
the, the urgency was really acase of bringing habitats back,
but a variety of them, you know.
I mean, you could have easilyjust planted the whole lot, but
(20:48):
it's just trees, you know,blocked out the deer and sort of
let it do its thing.
But then we kind of felt thatwe wanted to be part of it on an
ongoing basis.
So, you know, we starteddigging ponds, planting trees,
planting hedgerow, thinkingabout wild meadow.
(21:09):
How could we um create awildflower meadow, um, and it's
it sort of evolved from there.
So, um, you can say that in inone aspect, we made it up as we
went along, you know, and Ithink the land appreciated that
because we didn't um rush in.
I mean the one thing we alwaysadvise people to to always
(21:31):
assess a habitat if you're goingto create a pond, for example,
rather than just go startdigging.
Make sure you're not destroyinga biodiversity rich habitat in
order to create another one andit might be very discreet,
looking in terms of verydelicate wildflowers that are
very unique and rare.
So, to always make sure.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
So we started working on the land and we've learned a
lot over the years.
You know we've made somemistakes along the way and we
happily share those mistakeswith people that come to us so
they can avoid making the samemistakes.
But overall it's worked out.
It's worked out well and it'sbeen heartening to see
(22:13):
biodiversity come backdefinitely to the land and to
get the responses from peoplethat have come down to us,
because I I mean what we set upwith, obviously, wild Acres.
It's a social enterprise.
So the mission really is torestore, help restore
biodiversity and try and inspireand help as many people as
possible to do the same in theiroutdoor space, whether it's a
(22:35):
courtyard or whether it's.
And we get people of all walksof life coming to us, people
that have, you know, that havean apartment and a balcony.
They want to plant somewildflowers into a pot and
create a tiny pond.
Or we've had people withhundreds of acres, who are large
scale, you know, working torestore biodiversity and, of
course, everybody in betweenwith gardens of every size yeah,
(22:56):
we we'll sort of move back tothe wild acres again and then
we'll stitch that into howpeople can sort of do this in
their own gardens.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
But, yeah, you mentioned.
So you have a variety ofdifferent habitats.
Now you know from reading yourwebsite.
You have 52 ponds, is thatright?
57 actually 57, there's moreyeah every time I have a back
turn I can't keep up with theyeah, the updated on the website
(23:30):
.
Yeah, so 15 000 native trees,or maybe more.
Yeah, yeah, no, that's, that'sabout right of wildflower
meadows and yeah, but maybe tellus about those like the trees
were the first thing, I guessyeah, well, actually just a
question as well, because we are.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
It's 34 acres we have now, because we actually signed
off last month on another 16.36acres lovely land, or 16 and a
half acres of land which is onlya few hundred meters away from
the original site.
So, um, again for biodiversity,brilliant.
So, um, so yeah, the individualhabitats on the land, as jilly
(24:06):
said, I mean we were lucky aswell.
We should mention we have thered cross river, which borders
the nature reserve, so that wasa real um bonus to get that as
well, so that brings um so muchmore wildlife in.
But, um, it was heavily grazed.
I mean, it was um the all thevegetation had been stripped
away, especially along theriver's edge, which was a real
(24:28):
problem because that's such asensitive area, that right what
they call the riparian corridor,which is basically just the the
transition from the aquatichabitat to the terrestrial
habitat.
That strip of land had beenstripped of vegetation and that
brings with it all sorts ofproblems because wildlife will
use that corridor to travelalong and to forage in.
(24:49):
It's a really important habitatand without the trees, with the
roots of the trees, reinforcingthe riverbank, there was
massive erosion problems alongthe river.
So we did a huge amount of workmyself and Gillian on that, in
restoring the riverbank.
There was massive erosionproblems along the river so we
did a huge amount of work myselfand Gillian on that, in
restoring the riverbank andreplanting that riparian
corridor with native trees.
And we also then, as I said, thewildflower meadow.
(25:11):
We have a wet wildflower meadow, four acre wildflower meadow.
This is on the original sitewhich we mostly let regenerate
itself.
But we also collected localwildflower seeds and plug,
planted some wildflowers in toincrease the diversity because
obviously, you know, with theland, with our land changed the
(25:32):
way it is all around us, youknow you haven't got that seed
bank necessarily there allaround to repopulate with a
diverse range of wildflowers.
So, for instance, we grewdevil's bit scabious from seed
and plug plants are in quite alot of oxide daisy, and then the
most famous one obviously isyellow rattle which we sewed in,
otherwise known as the meadowmaker, which is a wonderful
(25:54):
wildflower for anybody creatinga wildflower meadow.
It's fairly generalist.
It'll grow in most soil types,wet, you know, free draining.
But the crucial thing obviouslyit does is it will it's what
they call hemiparasitic, soit'll tap into the roots of
surrounding grass and drawnutrients from them, thus
obviously weakening the grassand giving a chance for more
(26:16):
delicate wildflowers to growthrough.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
So and giving a chance for more delicate
wildfires to grow through.
So yeah, Sorry, I was justgoing to mention that the new
land is very different.
So the new land is actuallymainly dry, so it's probably
again.
We haven't got stuck into itjust yet, but we're already out
the door busy.
But that 16 and a half acres, alot of that will be wild meadow
(26:46):
.
Actually, we're looking at theidea of conservation grazing on
that meadow.
We've certainly started byputting in some perimeter
hedgerow and there'll be somestands of trees as well, but a
lot of that is ideal forwildflower meadow.
Yeah and yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
so and that'll be a different wildflower meadow and
we speak about wildflowers,wildflower meadows, quite a lot
on the podcast.
As I say, I've been the one thatwas sown here and yeah, I know
no more and just let things growis one of the yeah, it's huge,
and but I suppose the and youmentioned yellow rattle, which
(27:26):
is, you know, vital in terms ofswitching from lawn situation to
wildflower meadow, and we have.
I think that in some cases, ifyou have a lawn that has been
kept as a lawn, it's quitedifficult to transition to a
wildflower meadow because, asyou said, the seed bank is not
there.
there's nothing there only youknow this, three or four lawn
(27:48):
grass species and in order totransition, you do need the help
of something like yellow rattleand your other plug plants,
anything that will give you achance to get on top of grass.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
It can be a difficult transition in people's gardens.
Yeah, I think the transition,you see, because it takes time
and, like I mean, they say it'sup to seven years to create a
wildflower meadow.
You know, and I suppose we'realways looking for the instant
hit and it can be hard to waitand have that patience year in,
year out.
It can be hard to wait and havethat patience year in, year out
.
I would always say to somebody,definitely cutting the borders,
cutting the meandering pathwaythrough, will always help to
(28:31):
make that project and if it isgoing to take sort of seven
years, you know, it makes thatproject look more defined and
sort of rather than, yeah,because the first few years can
be tricky enough, you know, andit's different whether it's in
your garden versus on on acresof land, and there's different
methods.
Um, I mean, if you like, I cangive you an example of of the
(28:53):
what we've been through the lastseven years with our meadow and
the original plot of land sowhen the first thing um is that
the livestock uh left the landend of 2017 and it's a very wet
meadow, so we we left it thefirst year.
The second year then we got itcut, um at the end of the season
(29:16):
, so it was in in September itwas.
It was cut and baled largebales, which were taken away,
and we then noticed after that,the following spring, definitely
more wildflowers coming, and wedid that for about three years
that put and lift.
But because it was really heavymachinery coming on the
(29:39):
tethering process and then theactual baling, the large bales,
they have to be lifted by aforklift.
It makes it harder then if wewanted to use some of those for
mulching around trees that weplanted.
So the year after that then wefound somebody who had a square
baler, so it was still heavymachinery for the cutting, the
(30:01):
tethering, and then we got asquare baler, so we had hundreds
of square bales which meantthat you know, easy to lift when
they're dry.
Of course, if you leave them onthey're a bit heavy when
they're wet especially in awetland area.
But we managed to get them alloff the land and again very
(30:24):
useful for mulching around treesand in the sort of polytunnel
area with the tree nursery.
But we were still veryconscious that you know it's
still really heavy machinerycoming onto the land and when it
cuts it cuts everything.
And you know when we've beencollecting yellow rattle seed
now we harvest it.
You know in sort of August timeand the amount of life in those
(30:46):
buckets.
You know when we collect it byhand, literally down on our
hands or knees, shaking the seedinto buckets and it is heaving
with you know, with caterpillarswith spiders with shield bugs
and you know, absolutely heavingwith caterpillars with spiders
with shield bugs and absolutelyheaving.
So if machinery comes in to doyour cutting, all of that is
(31:08):
just decimated, includingobviously any frogs, because
it's wetland, including thefrogs that are in there, and
everything else.
So then we said, right, wereally want to move away from
that.
So the following year afterthat then we said, right, we
really want to move away fromthat.
So the following year afterthat.
Then we said, right, let's trygoing back to traditional siding
.
So we bought a number of sides,so four acres of which is a
(31:30):
blood sport.
Yeah, yeah.
And we're certainly not.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
It's even worse when you're on blood.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And we've actually run a sythian workshop in
collaboration.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Yeah, which is very interesting.
I would actually I joke aboutthe side, but actually it's a
viable thing, certainly.
I mean, it's a wonderful um wayof cutting a wildflower meadow,
because it's so you know, it'sso sensitive in relation to the
wildlife that's there.
You're not desi, you're notcrushing everything and
decimating everything and balingeverything, so I often think
(32:04):
it's something that you know.
Now, in fairness, it wasdifficult in our land because
the grass had over a year'sgrowth and so it was heavy.
But if you've got a garden, youknow and you get a scythe and
you follow the basics of how touse it.
You can get a garden.
No time for a scythe, followthe basics on how to use it.
You can plot a garden no timeaside.
You know there's no diesel,there's no fumes If you keep it
up every year.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Before we started siding, there was a gap of a
year between the square buildingand the side there was a gap,
so that makes it extra hard.
But again, siding you're still.
Yeah, there a lot of work in it, but you know, it's great yeah,
it is, it's.
I would recommend it for smallareas.
It's really not.
So, of the four acres, wemanaged to get an acre done.
(32:44):
Well, right, um.
But going back to I mentionedearlier about conservation
grazing, there's there's hugebenefits that because, like so,
if you have, um say, cattle oncertain breeds of cattle are
really good for conservationgrazing Dexters or Dremines or
(33:06):
maybe even the Angus, aberdeenAngus and if they're in low
density, moving around yourpasture, it allows wildlife to
be part of that because,obviously, as the cows are
eating, if there's anything inthe way it'll move out of the
way and they'll graze away andwildflowers will grow.
(33:28):
I mean, if you put 100 cattlein the field they'll eat
everything, but if it's small,low density, I suppose that's
for landholding yeah, yeah forlandholding.
You're not going to do that inyour terrace garden or your
clean cattle looking over yourfence at your neighbor.
But definitely the sidingmethod, or even a sickle, or, to
(33:50):
be honest, you know I've triedit before with the shears.
So at the end of you know likewe have a tiny back garden here
in Stirlorgan so we could quitehappily go with that.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
now we mow a pathway through you cut it in half an
hour.
Oh yeah, you cut it veryquickly with the scythe.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
But if somebody didn't feel like, you know
buying a scythe and having that,you know you do it with the
sickle, which is a very smallhandout, or you could do it with
the shears, you know as well,and the lift you've got to lift
the lift.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
You take your cuttings away and leave them sit
for a while to dry and anywildfire seed to drop from the
heads and then remove them.
So you're taking nutrients away, obviously, from the soil,
demutifying the soil giving achance for the delicate
wildflowers to come through.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
So, it's interesting what you said at the start there
, because the wildflower meadowI have and I speak about it
quite a bit it looks peak for avery short window, and that
short window is probably end ofMay through to sort of end of
June, early July, and that'swhen it's at its real peak.
(35:01):
The oxide is dominating, yourtall buttercup is dominating,
and after that then it is interms of aesthetic or the.
You know what people areperceiving this.
Yes, yes, yes, it is, it is yes,it is going downwards from
there, but the life in it isunbelievable so unbelievable.
(35:23):
I certainly have my view and myinitial idea for the wildflower
meadow was cut it, cut out,mowing or a certain amount of
mowing.
And obviously, looking for thataesthetic and I did I I
probably know more than the thenormal person doing it I knew I
was going to have periods whereit wasn't going to look perfect,
(35:44):
but the window is quite small,but it has changed.
For me, the aesthetic, the sixweeks are lovely, they're a
bonus, but everything that hashappened as a result of that is
what has really excited me there.
Yeah, the, everything fromspiders to beetles.
You know every sort of that.
I don't even know what a lot ofthem are, but it is just alive
(36:06):
all year, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
it's just we know, I mean it definitely, it's a
mindset and I think that's thecrucial word applies, I suppose,
to a lot of aspects of ourgardening.
You know that we just have toallow space for nature and the
days of just those closelycropped billiard table type lawn
and you know that flower bedthat's cleaned nearly like a
(36:28):
carpet, where all the materialsare taken away in the autumn.
In the autumn, I mean that'slike in the countryside, that
green field sward of lush greenryegrass that's cut three times
a year for silage.
Both of those are deserts forbiodiversity.
I mean you do fall in love.
I mean our meadow is the same,the wet wild farm, and it's a
(36:51):
riot of colour in the spring,you know, with cardamom
potensias, with cuckoo flowerand creeping buttercup.
And then you know it goes onand you look at it as the summer
goes on, it takes on a goldenhue with the grasses, but even
then we get a bit of knapweedthen coming through towards
later in the season and thedevil's bit scabious.
(37:11):
You know Beautiful.
But you know nature tells youwhat's right and what's wrong
and we look at the swallows.
You know hunting over the field, you know hoovering up the
insects and, as you just saidyou look at what's beneath the
sword.
You know you see all the shieldbugs and the caterpillars and
the spiders and it's justmind-blowing the life that's in
(37:32):
there really is but actuallygoing.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Going back to the aesthetics, I'm kind of looking
out at our patch there in thesmall garden and right now, so I
think it looks great.
Now the sun is shining, sothat's an advantage, but right
now you can see there's lots ofdandelion in bloom, there's
oxalate Loads of cowslipactually so cowslip it started
off a few years ago at the backgarden just one plant of it, and
(37:57):
now this year I can see there'sat least seven or eight cowslip
clumps, and so they're in bloomright now and then the plantain
.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
it looks good as well .
Speaker 2 (38:10):
There's oxeye daisy yarrow Coming through, they'll
replace that will be, you know,oxeye, daisy and yarrow.
But the people coming throughthat will replace that will be,
you know, oxeye, daisy andyarrow and knapweed.
And so you can actually havefrom spring right through to
autumn, that succession planting.
You know that people like ifyou were doing formal borders.
You know that people plan forthat.
But you can do the same withnative wildflowers.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
There's figwort down the bottom Fig.
I figure it's a reallyinteresting plant.
It is Wasps.
Absolutely adore it, love it.
I know, when you say wasps,most people they balk and
they'll think.
But there's a great example ofhow we need to just really
reconnect with.
I mean wasps are so important,you know, in relation to the
niche they fill in the ecosystemand in the control of other
insects.
(38:49):
That word pests, I think, is aterrible word I mean but but you
know they'll control the likesof green flies and black flies.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
I want to get back to the aesthetics, because I'm
looking out at the card chairand I just wanted to mention
another idea, just thatobviously we do the cut and lift
in the autumn, but we do leaveareas where we don't cut and
lift.
So say, for example, right nowI'm looking at these lovely tall
knapweed um seed heads thatobviously there's no seed in
(39:19):
them any longer, but you havethe, the stalk and the, the
dried flower head, yeah, andit's standing up, yeah, when
everything else is kind of more,uh, low growing at the moment,
like the dandelion and cowslipand um, you know, actually I
love the dandelion clocks, youknow, when they go to seed I
think they look very pretty aswell, and the goldfinch.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Love them and the house farmers were eating money.
Yesterday I was looking at theseed.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
But the remnants of last year's knackweed looks very
aesthetically pleasing inamongst that, you know For sure.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
In terms of the podcast, I had Sandra Cofola on,
it was one of the of.
Uh.
In terms of the podcast, I hadsandra kafola on, it was one of
the first episodes or one of theearly episodes back in 2020,
and so sandra sandra is geniusin wildflowers, um, but yeah,
yeah, yeah, one of his in inthat podcast.
Uh, there's a line that justkeeps coming back to me all the
time.
So somebody questioned him andsaid there's no, there's no
(40:15):
color in the wildflower meadowin the winter and he said what
do you mean?
there's no color.
You have the gold finches, thebull finches yes, it's, it's a
perception thing.
So there's no flower, or noflower of mention, but there is
all these seed heads there, anda great example again is the
napweed out the front of myhouse.
(40:36):
So you'll have the goldfinchesand they'll be hanging off it.
It'll be bent like a fishing rodand the the goldfinches are
just hanging there eating theseed heads yeah, it's just
amazing to see that but it is aperception change because in in
the, in the eye of, if you'relooking at it, versus the
postcard of a fully fledged inflower meadow, it looks like
(40:59):
it's gone over that.
It isn't overly beautiful, butwhen you see a goldfinch, as I
say, hanging off the head of anapweed, there's nothing more
beautiful.
But it's just a different.
Speaker 2 (41:11):
It's a different beautiful and also maybe I think
if we got active in thatenvironment at that time of year
as well, it would help.
So say, as well as thegoldfinch being able to to feed
off the seed, that if wecollected the seed by hand, so
again that you know the seedthat is in our area is more
suited to the land of the area.
(41:31):
So ideally if we were allcollecting it and it gets you
connected with that autumnnature by doing that collecting
the seed, and then learning howto then propagate that on into
plug plants to then plant out inyour own garden, so that you're
not actually having tonecessarily go out and buy
wildflower seeds, that you'reactually generating that
(41:51):
yourself.
You know it can be done.
I mean an example which we didactually only the last couple of
weeks actually go out and buywildflower seeds that you're
actually generating thatyourself.
You know it can be done.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
I mean an example which we did actually only the
last couple of weeks actually,which we, again, we were all
learning every day, and one wascardamom pretenses, cuckoo
flower, lady smock, which is,again, you know, you talk about
the interdependency between ourflora and our fauna and how
important native plants are.
You know, as opposed to you knowus filling completely our
gardens with non-native plants.
(42:16):
You know the orange tipbutterflies now, which are out
in force at wild acres andthey're so larval food well,
also hedge mustard, but theirmain larval food plant is
cardamom pretenses, cuckooflower, and we actually only
just found out there a coupleweeks ago.
You can propagate that fromleaf cuttings, and all you do is
get a whole load of leafcuttings, put them in a ziplock
bag with some rainwater, leavethem in the sunlight and they'll
(42:38):
all root.
And we have some of them, about100 of them, in a Ziploc bag
here on the windowsill.
They've all sent out thesethread-like roots so they can
all be propagated intoindividual plants.
So it is fascinating, all thesethings, all these ways of
propagating.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
I'm conscious that we're sort of heading towards
the end.
But one thing I want to go backto and I know you have
workshops on this, but thewildlife ponds, so tell us about
those, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
Okay, have we got another three hours?
Speaker 1 (43:12):
I have but I don't know, have you guys got three
hours?
Speaker 3 (43:15):
No yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, they're just dynamite, they
are just, you know.
In a nutshell, I mean, you knowwe planted thousands of native
trees and we've our tree nurseryand I always think that you
know an oak tree, first 300years, class of juvenile, next
300 years, middle age, next 300,last 300 years veteran.
You know, and so you planttrees in a way for the next
(43:37):
generation.
You know woodland, but you diga wildlife pond and wildlife
will find, sometimes withinhours, because a lot of the
incredible, fascinatingcreatures that you're going to
get in your wildlife ponds.
You know diving beetles ofvarious different species.
You know water scorpions, waterstick insects, water boatmen,
they can all fly and they allfind that water habitat, that
(44:00):
newly dug habitat or createdwildlife pond.
They'll fly at night to avoidpredation.
They pick up the glint ofstarlight and moonlight on a
water surface and that's howthey find new habitats.
But water just attracts in somuch biodiversity.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
I mean, all life needs water, so it sort of makes
sense, doesn't it?
Speaker 3 (44:20):
We need.
I mean, it's so relaxing tohave.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
What's that saying?
That a garden without a pond islike a theatre without a stage.
Speaker 3 (44:31):
That's really out of the question.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
I didn't make that up myself.
I didn't make that up myself.
I put it a bit more basicallythan that.
It's a bit like the fireplacein a living room.
It's that centre stage, that awildlife pond and again because
you want them to be located in asunny area so they're not
hidden away in the corner.
They are actually become thecentre stage.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
You put them somewhere that you can see them,
as we always recommend topeople Like the fire.
They are actually become thecentre stage.
You put them somewhere that youcan see them, as we always
recommend to people Like thefire we all gather around the
fire.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
It's like the same.
You know a pond, everythingcomes to it.
You know the birds will come into drink and bathe and to feed,
obviously for insects over thepond.
Speaker 3 (45:09):
so you'll find, yeah, I mean, we've 57 ponds at
Wildegres but we've one smallpond here in our garden.
Still remember we were sayingthere, in the space of in the
space of two hours.
There last summer, during oneof the hot spells, we counted 11
different bird species cameinto the pond just to drink and
to bathe.
They're just such a haven forwildlife and there's I mean,
what you know on a day liketoday and it's a beautiful day
(45:32):
you have to be able to sit out,if you have the time, with a cup
of tea and a deck chair, andsit by the pond.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
It's so relaxing yeah , let's try it sometime yeah, um
, speaking of speaking of, uh,your ponds and the creation of
ponds.
So workshops are a big team, ofwhat you guys do and, yeah, and
I know one of the workshops ishow to create your own wildlife
ponds.
So maybe talk us through someof the workshops.
Speaker 2 (45:58):
I know you've good few upcomings, so tell us about
some of those yeah, yeah, um, soyeah for me, like may's a busy
month as well for us.
So we, we do, we do a honeytour.
I'll give you an example.
So we, we do have an apiarydown at wild acres, a small
number of hives again, we don'twant to flood the land with
honeybees, but it's a smallnumber of hives and we're
(46:21):
producing honey sustainablybecause it's important that
we're able to produce food inour country.
But it's how we produce thisthat's key.
The honey tour is really.
It's a relaxing sort ofimmersive morning learning about
the importance of, before wethink about, you know, having
hives.
That it's about what are theplants that are around, so the
(46:44):
hedgerow full of floweringplants, and you know, the ground
flora, that there's enough foodfor the honeybees, but also all
the other bee species, thebumblebees and solitary bees
that are so important, andthey're the ones actually that
are threatened at the moment interms of population and species.
So the honey tour is a lovelyrelaxing focus on how honey is
(47:08):
produced by our wonderful nativeIrish honeybee and then how we
would bring that from hive intojar.
But we do talk a lot aboutbiodiversity and about native
plants, whether it's trees,whether it's hedgerow, whether
it's bramble.
I mean, you know people cursebramble, but it's one of the
most important plants.
Speaker 3 (47:29):
A lot of the plants we've been talking about are the
most important for biodiversityBrambles and nettles and
ragwort they're all incredibleDogs, you know, yeah, so the
Honey Tour is really.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
It's about producing food sustainably and in tune
with nature and, yeah, a lotabout biodiversity.
It's a lovely, relaxing morning.
The Guide to Nature experience,then, is just that it's about
that immersion in nature for afew hours through the nature
reserve, but also showing we doa lot of biodiversity monitoring
(48:01):
, so we take trail camerafootage, take a lot of
photographs and some aerialstuff as well, and so we have
that to show people inpresentation format, because on
the day itself, depending on theseason, you'll see certain
creatures out, but you won't seeeverything, so you know,
whether it's the red kite or thewoodpeckers or the kingfisher
(48:25):
fishing on the main pond.
All of these things were able toshow people through an audio
visual presentation, as well asdoing the guide guided tour
around the nature reserve which,to have to say, most every day
seems to be sunny when we'redoing that, and we're very lucky
with the weather um, there'salways tea and coffee and
bickies as well, um, and then wehave a gardening for
(48:48):
biodiversity workshop too, andand that's more focused on
people who love gardening, havegardens but want to do more to
bring more nature into thatenvironment.
So it's a lovely, immersiveexperience covering anything
from ponds to hedgerow, nativehedgerow to pollinator beds and
(49:08):
wildflower lawns yeah, and then,of course, the ponds workshop.
Yeah, biggie, that's it.
That's a huge one.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
That's the one that you know sells out the quickest,
yeah, so so on that one, peoplelearn how to create a wildlife
pond in their garden, and theycan scale it up or down
depending on the size of thegarden.
Speaker 3 (49:29):
Yeah, I mean, we have , as I say, 57 ponds.
We've one which is the size ofa football pitch and everything
in between, right the way downto a micro pond made from a
recycled flower bucket, you know, so somebody could put it on a
balcony, for instance.
So you know, we cover the wholetopic of ponds, as to how you
build them of every size, howyou maintain them.
We show people the wildlifethat they bring in and, yeah,
(49:52):
it's just a purpose from startto finish.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
Yeah, from garden ponds to countryside everything
in between and um ponds thatwill be lined um you know ponds
that don't need to be lined tocheck.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
Do you need to?
Do you actually have to, or doyou need a liner in the first
place and where to site them?
Speaker 2 (50:10):
how to manage them.
How to manage them?
So yeah, track the biodiversityin them.
You know the pond dips and um,enjoy the wonderful creatures.
Speaker 3 (50:18):
So yeah, every after yeah, we get lots of people
would come.
People tend to love it and theysend us in pictures.
Speaker 2 (50:23):
Then, weeks later upon, they've created so, yeah,
we love to get the photos afterit's over.
Yeah, I imagine that's that'svery satisfying.
Speaker 1 (50:31):
Yeah, and so I know you're adding workshops all the
time and there's workshopsthrough a lot of a lot of the
months of the year.
So I will put the link to thein the show notes.
You know where people can findum all these different workshops
and you know you'll see thefuture ones coming up and all
that before we sort of round off.
(50:52):
Um I mentioned uh, listeners ofthe podcast are probably sick
of me talking about it Veryexcited, two very exciting
things happened in a gardensetting here.
Got the bull finches in for thefirst time last year which I
know for some people is notexciting, because they're
widespread in certain places,but we never had them here, so
to get them in was brilliant,and then last just before
(51:14):
Christmas we got, uh, thewoodpecker in and oh wow, yeah
yeah.
So a friend of mine a couple ofyears ago who only lives about
three miles away he saw one onhis bird feeder sent me a
picture of it and it was awoodpecker, but I definitely
hadn't seen any here.
And then just around Christmastime, every day for about a week
(51:36):
I saw a woodpecker in thegarden and that was very
exciting, for me, but for youguys for you guys, on the scale
that you're at, what have beenthe most exciting things that
have happened.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
I would say yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:51):
That's it.
Yeah, I would say just.
Speaker 3 (51:53):
Of course, there is some standout moments, you know,
obviously the otters every day.
In January on our main wildlifepond, which is very unusual we
had a dog otter coming up andhunting just in broad daylight,
foraging in the pond.
So we actually got someincredible footage where,
because his eyesight wasn't thatgreat, we were able to walk
(52:15):
down in front of it and it wasliterally about three, four foot
away from the camera and it wasthere, scratching itself,
rolling over like a dog on thegrass, and then you could see.
Every now and then it wouldsense that maybe there's
something there and would lookup and smell.
The wind was in the rightdirection.
So this went on for about three, four minutes and then
eventually went into the pondand was foraging around looking
(52:37):
for frogs and dragonfly nymphsand then eventually just twigged
with something that went off.
But I would say overall, justthe amount, just being the
pleasure of seeing naturerebound.
You know from what was a desert, you know seeing biodiversity
coming back, and that's so itwas.
It's hard work, I'll be honestwith you, and it can be
depressing work, you know, inrelation to the overall scale of
(52:59):
things.
So it is.
I mean just you know, when youlook at the trends, you know in
relation to biodiversity lossand you see the headlines.
It can be quite dishearteningat times, but on the plus side
definitely there is a lot.
There is a major swing towardsthe want to restore biodiversity
in Ireland.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
Yeah, I'd say, as well as the biodiversity
returning, the people that cometo us are amazing so everybody
that's come is just so lovely.
And I like to say that, like so,we started.
This is the start of our fourthyear doing workshops and tours
and events, doing workshops andtours and events and I have to
(53:40):
say everybody has just beenlovely, because people who want
to take action for nature I justtend to have that really good
heart they want to, to, to takeaction and do something and
learn what they can do.
So that's really yeah, yeah no,it is.
Speaker 3 (53:52):
Yeah, that's very hard actually, and there's a lot
more people taking action.
Yeah, that's the good, that'sdefinitely the plus.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
Yeah, yeah, for sure and I I understand what you're
saying in that.
Uh, it can be depressing if youlook at the overall, yeah, the
overall broader picture and you,yeah, you feel against the face
of that, or or we feel asindividuals in the face of that,
that we're, you know, lookingup a really, really steep cliff
and and it's hard to move theneedle.
(54:19):
But, yeah, it is incredible,the compounding interest of
small, small projects and smallsteps and, you know, multiplied
across many gardens, across manyfarms across many you many
situations like yourselves.
How that compounds and changesthe direction.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Hopefully, yeah, yeah , I can feel that, I can
definitely feel that, actuallyand that's one thing we'd like
to just stress as well I meanyou said it there so perfectly,
but just to add to it, you know,everybody that's, you know, in
relation to the biodiversitycrisis especially, everybody can
have a huge impact.
I mean, if you've got anoutdoor space of any size and
you create a little pocket ofhabitat and somebody two, three,
(55:03):
four doors up does the same andsomeone else does the same,
you're creating that wonderfulthing, connectivity in the
landscape and all these pocketsof habitat, so wildlife can move
throughout the landscape fromyour garden to the next garden
three doors up, and on and onand on, and that has a massive
positive impact even apart fromour well-being which we talked
about, which is huge.
(55:23):
So yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (55:25):
I was just going to say the woodpeckers were a
highlight for us too, by the way.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (55:29):
And still are.
Hang a peanut feeder out inyour garden, one of the rigid,
mesh ones in the winter, and ifthey're there they'll be in
absolutely now I have to saythat one.
Speaker 1 (55:39):
I looked out.
It was a bit of a shock.
So it was early one morningmaking breakfast and the next
day I looked out and it was just.
It was just such a shock.
And then to come back for fouror five days in a row and I was
just delighted I haven't seenthem just recently and I'm not
overly worried about that, but Ithink the fact that they're on
(56:00):
the move towards our direction,I think I'm yeah, that's a good
news story.
Speaker 3 (56:04):
They're actually doing very well.
Speaker 2 (56:06):
I think they've been recorded.
Speaker 3 (56:07):
Yeah, they're in every county.
They re-colonised back thereabout 20 years on this,
especially on the east coast,into Glenwood and the Down.
Now they've spread.
So, yeah, that's a good newsstory.
Speaker 1 (56:16):
Yeah, for sure for sure, really interested to get
up and see your place during theyear.
Speaker 2 (56:24):
Yeah, important.
Speaker 1 (56:25):
Sounds amazing, looks amazing.
It's a really good story.
Congratulations and well doneon what you've achieved so far.
By the sounds of both of you.
You're definitely not stopping.
You're pushing and developingfurther and, yeah, you can hear
the enthusiasm from yourself, soit's phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (56:44):
Thank you.
Thank you very much, I'll seeyou.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
Lovely to be a part of this podcast.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (56:49):
It's been a pleasure talking to you.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
So a huge thanks to Gillian Bright for coming on.
For any of you listening andwatching you can feel and see
the enthusiasm you know fromfrom the two of them, the, the
work that's been done there, thethe effort to change the needle
, I guess in terms of what'shappening is is there for all to
see those workshops.
You know all the various ones.
There's hugely beneficialinformation for people to take
(57:16):
and implement in their owngardens and even from an
awareness piece to you know, toengage with you know wild acres
and become aware of what'shappening and the changes that
are happening out there.
I think is hugely important.
I'll put the link for thecourses and the website and so
on in the show notes, butdefinitely check them out.
(57:37):
It's a phenomenal place.
I heard about it from Rosie May, the insomniac gardener.
She had been to visit and shesaid it was a fabulous place and
really worth going to.
So yeah, that's where I heardabout it, but it's certainly
worth checking out foryourselves.
Check out the courses, checkout the you know, visit if you
(58:00):
can, and so on.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening.
Thank you, you.
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