Rewilding in Inishowen

 Photo: Photo courtesy of Adam Rory Porter Photography Buncrana

Rewilding. What’s that?

The term ‘Rewilding’ pretty much encapsulates anything that encourages wildlife to thrive. With careful management initially areas can also become a self-sustaining ecosystem. But it is a bit more complicated than that (like most things are) 

While the word has been around since the early 1990s and included three necessary components: Cores (i.e. core areas where nature is strictly protected), Corridors (to link the cores to each other) and Carnivores – the three ‘C’s.  

The term never went beyond the academic world of conservation biology until George Monbiot published his 2013 book ‘Feral’, and worked its way into the public imagination.

There is a temptation to omit the ‘c’ for carnivore. There was a failed experiment in the Netherlands where the ‘rewilding’ didn’t include carnivores and kept herds of horses behind a fence (leading to overgrazing and starvation of the animals) has done more harm than good for the concept.

Most would agree that for it to be real ‘rewilding’ it has to be big – landscape level; it has to include reintroducing species driven to extinction by people; and it has to steer the land so that, in effect, it has control of itself – something which is sometimes referred to as ‘self-willed land’. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the case as we are encouraged to rewild our own back gardens by being more tolerant of wildlife and careful maintenance and planting.

New relationship with nature

Padraic Fogarty writing in GreenNews.ie thinks that trying to reassemble our collapsed ecosystems is an enormous task.

He thinks that one of the principle arguments from some detractors is that we cannot simply walk away from our landscapes to be overrun with invasive species or with nothing to keep a lid on deer numbers.

They have a point – for the foreseeable future there will be a need for people to be involved in the land: helping to remove barriers on rivers and restoring floodplains, re-profiling mined-out bogs to hold onto water, eradicating rhododendron, converting conifer monocultures to native woodlands and monitoring populations of reintroduced species.

And this is good news for landowners – rewilding has enormous employment opportunities and is a chance to reverse rural decline. Another big objection is that rewilding is the opposite of farming and that its supporters want to see swathes of the country ‘abandoned’.

Yes, farm animals, and sheep, in particular, will need to be removed from large areas, especially in the uplands. But our landscape is diverse enough so that this would not exclude small-scale farmers producing, say, high-end organic beef, artisanal dairy products, or honey.

Rewildling can exist – as it does in many European countries – in a mosaic with these small producers. And, of course, ‘real’ rewildling would be a boon for tourism.

Wild Ireland

One person who has been aware of rewilding even before the term was created is zoologist Killain Mclaughlin from Buncrana. Ever since he was young Killian wanted to create a haven for wildlife.

I’m sure you have already heard that this has been made a reality. Wild Ireland is a wildlife sanctuary in Dundrain, Burnfoot and is set in 23 acres of ground.  Introduced in the sanctuary are animals that had been rescued from dangerous or unsuitable places and working with three international charities Killian has even rescued three bears.

Killian has spent over six years transforming the site into the perfect habitat for the return of other animals. Along with the bears. Lynx, wolves boars and deer all roam free. All the animals were native to Ireland, but they were hunted to extinction or went extinct due to habitat loss. There are also Barbary Macaque monkeys that were living in Ireland according to archaeological digs and you’ll see those in the sanctuary too.

Killian says that just a few centuries ago, Ireland was clothed in a thick blanket of Temperate Celtic Rainforest. Due to destruction and deforestation, this woodland has all but disappeared, in a small pocket of remaining woodland on the Inishowen peninsula, the hands of time have been rolled back to an era were ferocious beasts ruled the Irish countryside. 

Here they live in their natural habitat in the temperate rainforest.

Lots of wild birds also call Wild Ireland home and the beautiful lake is home to swans, ducks and even a cheeky pair of otters.

There is a lot to see and do for children too, take the fairy trail around the rainforest, be delighted with tales of ancient folklore, play in our state of the art play park and finish off with some tasty treats from the Wild Ireland Shop and café.

If you would like more information go to their website www.wildireland.org