Balrath Wood

Balrath can be enjoyed throughout the year. However, the ideal time to visit Balrath is in late summer/early autumn when there are plenty of leaves and some fruits/nuts on the trees, some wildflowers still in bloom and also some insect life to be seen. Spring and summer are also good times, especially to see woodland wildflowers in their natural habitat. Woodlands are the natural state of Ireland’s landscape. Left alone, trees would eventually cover much of the country as they did thousands of years ago. Native species would have included oak, ash and yew, for example. As trees were cleared for farming and later, industry, our ancient woodlands vanished. Today we have the lowest percentage of wooded area in Europe.Much of Ireland’s landscape and the plants and animals (flora and fauna) that live here only arrived in the last 10,000 years, at the end of the last Ice Age. Because of this, Ireland does not have a huge diversity of species compared to Britain or the rest of Europe. There are many different types of woodland in Ireland. What we think of as a typical wooded area may be a relatively recent plantation. It may include several species such as beech, chestnut and sycamore that are not considered native trees, even though they have been with us for centuries.

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