Wildlife haven on Galway city’s doorstep
Lifestyle - Judy Murphy meets the Friends of Merlin Woods and hears about riches of a little-used woodland
It’s the biggest woodland area in Galway City, containing a vast variety of wildlife from red squirrels to rare orchids, yet Merlin Woods remains an unknown territory to most people.
That’s changing, thanks to the work of a small, but dedicated group, Friends of Merlin Woods, which was set up two years ago.
On Saturday, the group gathered near the entrance to the woods to launch an information board, consisting of a large map and a poster, which outlines the huge wealth of wildlife and history contained in this 140-acre site, and the walks that will lead to these treasures.
This information board will be a permanent fixture in Merlin and anybody with even the slightest interest in wildlife will be amazed at the riches of these woods on the eastern outskirts of Galway City.
The Friends of Merlin Woods group was initially set up two years ago opposing a plan by Galway City Council to run a 1.9km bus corridor through the woodlands, as proposed in the Galway City Development Plan 2011-2017.
The group argued that such a corridor was environmentally unsound and would divide the woods and the local community.
Friends of Merlin Woods was founded in October 2012 and held its first litter-picking event a month later.
In just two years, the group has gone way beyond its original aspiration of stopping that bus corridor, as Saturday’s launch proved.
“Making local people aware of the woods and connecting people with nature is one of the major achievements of the group,” according to John Lusby of Birdwatch Ireland, who officially unveiled the information board.
“Enforcing the woods into people’s consciousness is important. For people in a city, wildlife and nature can get lost and it’s important to keep it going,” he said.
Twenty people regularly attend Friends of Merlin Woods meetings, while the group has over 1,600 followers on its very active and colourful Facebook page.
The Friends host regular events in the woods, embracing everything from batwalks to history tours and butterfly surveys
After being allocated funding from the Heritage Council they carried out a bat survey, which revealed that five species of bats use the woods, North and South.
An old castle in the North woods is a home to brown long-eared bats and, at present, the group is campaigning to have conservation work carried out there to ensure it continues in this role, says Caroline Stanley of the Friends of Merlin Group.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.