Discovering Ireland's Nature Heroes: Rewilding Efforts Making a Difference

I'm a nature nerd. Have been all my life. It's just my interest. Like another person's is football or food. Except my interest is everywhere. Or at least, it was.

When I was a kid in the 90s, Ireland felt full of life. I seemed to get a bee sting every weekend, couldn't open a drink without a wasp appearing, couldn't go on a long drive without the windscreen getting covered in bugs. Or visit my grandparents in Wexford without seeing hares, frogs, hedgehogs, jays and sparrow hawks over a single weekend. It wasn't like someone turned off the biodiversity switch, but the growing absence of life is blatant when you look close enough.

Everyone over a certain age mentions the animals they used to see or see more of. I made a video about the common Irish lizard on my Instagram recently, and many older people commented that they recall seeing them everywhere in the past, while most people stated they didn't even know we had lizards.

While I was aware of the changes in the natural world, I confess I put it into the back of my mind. At least until my son arrived. The thought of Ireland not being the land I grew up in for my son was gnawing away at me. So I decided to get the head down and properly learn about what was going on, and honestly, it didn't take much to understand how bad the situation really is.

Making a difference

I want this to be a positive article. So I won't drown you in the negative stats. However, I will say this: Ireland is one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth. It may look green, but that doesn't mean it's healthy. However, the great thing that I and many others are realising is that the wild Ireland our grandparents knew really can come back. It just needs a few adjustments in how we interact with our gardens, parks, farms, woodlands and hillsides. A bit of breathing room and a bit of time, and it will do its thing.

So, I decided to do something about it. My bit anyway. After a heap of research, I began rewilding my home. Five acres of what used to be a small homestead. I wanted to see if, even on this one patch, I could bring some nature back. I planted over 3,000 native trees, began learning to manage my meadows for wildflowers, added small ponds and planted native hedgerows. I sought advice from experts at every stage and began documenting every step so I could understand what impact I was having down the line.

And it worked. My garden is now teeming with life. From woodpeckers to long-eared owls, cuckoos, frogs and even an occasional otter.

However, the best thing I discovered along this journey wasn't the animals. As I began to share my experience and seek advice from others, I soon realised there is a huge, dedicated and growing number of people quietly working to heal our natural landscape.

Ireland's nature heroes

From rewilders to animal rescuers, volunteer organisations to individual landowners and fellow nature lovers — Ireland is full of people quietly working to heal our natural world. I call them 'Ireland's Nature Heroes' and I want to ensure they are commended for the inspiring and dedicated work they do. Some have devoted their whole lives to a specific Irish species. I document one Irish Nature Hero every week on my Instagram.

Today, I will introduce you to four. These heroes don't all do the same thing for nature, but the thing they have in common is their dedication. All of them have committed their life and their work to this, and I applaud them for that:

Animal rescues — Susan Kerwin– Bat Rehabilitation Ireland

Susan is incredible. She has dedicated her life to saving and rehabilitating all nine or our Irish bat species. Susan is a licenced wildlife rehabilitator and bat specialist who founded Bat Rehabilitation Ireland in 2019 at her home in Limerick. The rescue then went on to receive charity status in 2022, and Susan now has a wonderful network of volunteers.

When a bat is found injured, malnourished or stuck in a human environment (all of which happen a lot more than you'd think), Susan hops in her bat ambulance and drives to any corner of the nation to rescue the animal. She then brings it back to her rehabilitation centre and cares for it for as long as is needed. Once that bat is well again, it will be brought all the way back to where it was found to release it. Through her work, Susan has been able to contribute to multiple conservation projects and collect data to help us better understand how we can help bats into the future.

Bat Rehabilitation Ireland is a registered charity. You can learn more about it at batrehabilitationireland.ie.

Bev Truss – The Hogsprickle

As Susan is to bats, so Bev is to hedgehogs. These coy animals face an onslaught of dangers as they go about their business. From dog and cat attacks to road injuries, rodenticide poisonings to plastic entanglement and falling into drains and cattle grids, hedgehogs could do with someone watching out for them.

That's where Bev and her volunteers come in. Based in Clare, she takes in hogs in need from all over Ireland and helps them get back on their little feet before returning them to the wild. A registered vet nurse specialising in wildlife, Bev also teaches veterinary colleagues about veterinary care for wildlife and often presents workshops on the subject. She often takes in other wild animals, including a green sea turtle named Solstice, who was found on a beach in Clare. Bev joined forces with Dingle Aquarium to save Solstice.

The Hogsprickle can be found at thehogsprickle.weebly.com.

Rewilders — Brian O'Toole and Gilly Taylor – Wildacres

Brian and Gilly started Wildacres in 2017. On 34 acres in Wicklow, they've been restoring habitats by planting over 15,000 native trees, creating ponds, wildflower meadows and hedgerows, all designed to give nature a chance to recover and thrive. The result is a nature reserve that is magic to explore. Life is everywhere. It's like stepping into a lost Ireland I never knew. They have regularly visiting otter, pine martin, kingfishers, woodpeckers, newts, red kites and bats, just to name a few.

But Wildacres is more than just a nature reserve. They teach others, too. Through tours, workshops, events and outreach, they're engaging individuals, community groups, businesses and colleges, showing them the importance of biodiversity and how they can make a difference, no matter the size of their space.

You can find them at WildAcres.ie.

Pádraic Fogarty – Rewildyourland.ie

Pádraic, a regular contributor to The Journal, is a professional ecologist and author of the 2017 book Whittled Away – Ireland's Vanishing Nature. A clear and consistent voice for Irish wildlife, he often writes articles and gives talks. During his career, many people would ask him for advice to rewild their land. Pádraic heard this and went all in — he left his full-time job to start his own business; advising landowners how they can rewild their land. His business, Rewild!, already has a growing network of landowners of all kinds across multiple counties.

The value of a project like this is immense. Not only will life return to the rewilded sites themselves, which Pádraic can monitor and collect as data, but each site can work as a network to learn from each other and most importantly – inspire others.

If you have land you'd like to rewild, you can learn more here: Rewildyourland.ie.

You can follow Jack Morley's Irish nature journey on his Instagram @the_rewildlife or on YouTube @TheRewildlife.