“Immersing yourself in a wild Irish rainforest is like discovering another existential dimension entirely – one of timeless beauty, complexity, and wonder.”
These are the words of Eoghan Daltun, who over the past 15 years has been rewilding a 73-acre farm he bought on the Beara peninsula in west Cork, transforming it into a flourishing temperate rainforest.
Whilst Ireland is promoted worldwide as the Emerald Isle, renowned for its luscious green landscape, Daltun warns that “Ireland is ecologically thrashed” and that action needs to be taken to “protect the little natural habitats we have left”.
When you think of a rainforest, you think of the Amazon or the Congo - not Ireland. Yet, the Dublin-born sculptor and environmentalist argues that the rainforest is in fact “the natural habitat of most of this island”.
Over the past two years Daltun has travelled the length and breadth of Ireland photographing areas of temperate rainforest, in a bid to illustrate their beauty and immense ecological value, and to document, in almost all cases, their state of decline.
The Magic of an Irish Rainforest: A Visual Journey is a stunning collection of images, spanning all four provinces. Daltun takes us from his own thriving wild rainforest, Bofickil, in southwestern Ireland and Glenveagh National Park in Donegal to Glendalough in Wicklow and on to the Glens of Antrim. Belfast’s Cave Hill and Correl Glen and Cladagh Glen, both in Co Fermanagh, are also featured.
“One thing that unites Ireland is how badly we treat the natural world,” remarks Daltun. “Surviving rainforests are generally to be found in the most inaccessible valleys and mountainsides, where farming has always been least attractive.”
Daltun advises people “not to be deceived” by the beautiful images in his latest book.
“The places pictured are very tiny, few and far between, and almost always only pale shadows of their true ecological potential.”
He points out that trees now covers just 11% of Ireland, one of the lowest rates in Europe, with native trees covering just 1%.
“There is absolutely nowhere on the island of Ireland where you can visit a large-scale wilderness in good condition. Our largest, Killarney National Park, is all completely wrecked by overgrazing and invasive plant species.
“The overgrazing also strips out the immensely diverse ground flora of wildflowers, ferns, and other plants that should enrich the habitat for native animal inhabitants like insects, birds, and mammals.
“The bare forest floor is ideal for the rapid spread of invasive plants, such as rhododendron, which choke the ground.”
When he moved from Dublin to the Beara Peninsula, Dalton’s plan was simple: remove the invasive plant species and then put up a fence to keep out the goats and non-native sika deer. The land did the rest, rewinding time.
“It’s been an indescribable joy to witness the transformation of life. There are all kinds of forms and colours of plants and fungi. The place now rings with birdsong and flying insects and flowers and ferns.”
Even several rare native mammals including pine martens, lesser horseshoe bats and otters have discovered the regenerating habitat.
He is particularly proud of the symbiotic relationship species have with one another.
This is especially true of his favourite bird, the jay, which Daltun describes as “one of nature’s great tree planters”.
“In autumn they gather up the acorns and stash them here and there for the winter. Very often, they don’t return to collect them, and those acorns are able to grow into a new generation of oaks.”
One thing that unites Ireland, is how badly we treat the natural world.
— Eoghan Daltun
Dalton firmly believes that the biggest threat to our ecosystem is not farmers or tourism, rather unnaturally high levels of grazing, from both domestic and wild animals.
He particularly points to red deer and feral goats, who are included in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of the world’s 100 worst invasive alien species.
While there has been much focus recently on the Scottish debate on introducing wild lynx and the illegal release of two in the Scottish Highlands, Daltun says it’s a conversation governments in Ireland need to seriously consider.
“Lynx are much easier to live alongside than wolves. They are solitary animals who never attack people.
“People absolutely love planting trees, but if allowed, nature does a far better job than we can through trees seeding out as they have done for hundreds of millions of years.”
Daltun stresses that everyone in society has a role to play in protecting our precious rainforest ecosystems, from getting your hands dirty to advocating for policy change. And he believes Ireland needs to look towards the environmental land management scheme in England and for farmers to be incentivised into rewilding a proportion of their land.
Currently making a documentary for RTE about his conservation and rewilding work, Daltun has plans to embark upon a fact-finding mission to Costa Rica, which has managed to bring back its rainforests on a massive scale.
The Magic of an Irish Rainforest: A Visual Journey by Eoghan Daltun is published by Hachette Books Ireland.
Eoghan Daltun will be appearing in two events at this year’s NI Science Festival. Eoghan Daltun: The Magic of an Irish Rainforest, February 12 in An Droichead, Belfast and Eoghan Daltun with broadcaster Joe Mahon on February 13 at The Playhouse, Derry. Full programme and tickets at nisciencefestival.com
