Going ReWild In The Country

The gang’s all here…

ith 40 volunteers descending upon the Wild Acres Nature Reserve in Arklow last Saturday, the ReWild Wicklow gang are doing exactly what it says on the tin.

The Arklow outing saw 400 acorns from local Wicklow oak trees making the leap from the polytunnel to the ground.

A lot of that ground work having been done, of course, by Wild Acres’ founders Gilly Taylor and Brian O’Toole.

All that lifting and digging will have handily built up those ReWild muscles too for their new Reach The Peak outing on June 17th.

Here’s the lowdown…

We’re delighted to announce the second instalment of our annual fundraising event!

This will be a sponsored, guided hike to the peak of Tonelagee in the Wicklow Mountains on Saturday 17th June. We are thrilled and very grateful that this hike will be led by qualified hiking leaders Maria O’Loughlin and Zef Klinkenbergh.

At 817 metres high, Tonelagee is the third highest peak in the Wicklow Mountains and a steep climb with abundant bog close to the summit. The route is approximately 12 km and we expect it to take 4-6 hours to complete.

All participants must be fit, experienced hill-walkers, aged over 18 and willing to raise a minimum of €100 for our Barnacullian Ridge peatland restoration project.

This year all funds raised through Reach the Peak will support our peatland restoration work with the NPWS rangers at the Barnacullian Ridge in the Wicklow Mountains.

There are an estimated 343 hectares of extremely de-vegetated peatland in the Wicklow Mountains. Without vegetation the bare peat simply blows or washes away, causing downstream pollution or carbon loss.

In 2022, our volunteers helped NPWS rangers on a number of new peatland restorations sites by spreading heather seed and building small timber dams. Over time this will help re-vegetate and re-wet the bare peat.

This summer, we are continuing and expanding this work on the Barnacullian Ridge restoration site, which we will get to pass on this route. By taking part in this sponsored hike you will be helping to restore the very mountains on which we will walk!

If you would like to take part in Reach The Peak #2 on Saturday, June 17th, you can sign up right over here.

Cover pic: Rafal Rozalski. Smaller Lough Ouler pic: Four Acorns