Just moved - need new stomping grounds :)

Vivisectus

Hi All

I have just moved to a smallish village in the Cork City area, and I have started exploring my surroundings a little bit armed with my trusty camera, looking for interesting spots for walks, wildlife watching and photography.

Does anyone know the area? Does anyone have any suggestions? I intend to make good use of my evenings with this spectacular weather and beautiful light, and hopefully the weekend will be nice enough to plan a big rambling trip in as well so any tips are welcome

vistafinder

Id say you could pick any quiet boreen and be well pleased with what you would see the ditches are alive at the moment the less busy the road the better.

Farren woods
Milstreet country park and them mountain roads up there.

vistafinder

Just had a quick look at a little walks booklet I got in the paper a couple of years ago.

The Duhallow way starts in Bweeng village to nad bog 15 k then to Millstreet and Shrone.
Discription ..an enchanting stretch of 62k in total from bweeng offers a contrast of wild bog and mountain,forest,roadways,glens,lakes,rivers and stretches of beautiful isolation.
The unspoilt landscape is abounding in plant and animal life displaying all natures colours and rugged beauty.

Havent been there but I will soon after reading that.

Kilbarry wood Coolagown near fermoy havent been there either.

Vivisectus

thanks for the tip - the Duhallow way looks like a fun long-weekend plan

Cork boy 55

WHat side of city?
how far will you travel?

Vivisectus

I'm just outside of the city to the north, and I will go several hours on the weekends, about 45 mins during a week-day

Cork boy 55

Vivisectus wrote: »

I'm just outside of the city to the north, and I will go several hours on the weekends, about 45 mins during a week-day

Well lets just say your in the north west of the city , You can head up the N20, Towards greater Mallow region And you have easy access to Ballyhoura and Nagles mountains off the main road.


Nearest are the Nagles hills just 15 miles to the city limits to east side.
There is on the west side the Killavullen/Corran trail about 13km loop(only makred trail in hills i Think). A few small but nice mixed forests around the area as well like Castleblagh woodland trail.
http://www.walkingroutes.ie/1719-Killavullen-and-Corran-Mountain.html

To the west of Mallow on N72, 15 minutes or so There is the Mount Hillary Forest with a 13km loop walk just South of here is the Boggeragh Mountains area
http://www.walkingroutes.ie/1495-Mt-Hillary-Loop.html


Going beyond Mallow North on the N20 you have the forest Park At Doneraile
Then You have the Ballyhoura mountain area.
If your into biking There is tons of trails here and at least 3 long marked walking trails,
The nicest spot IMO is a beautiful forest in a glen called (Canon Sheehan Loop wlk) , Glenanair wood
This dense forest walk could be considered one of Irelands best forest trails
http://www.walkingroutes.ie/757-Canon-Sheehan-Loop.html


If your on the North east of city lets say Glanmire you have access to the Dublin Motorway and can be in Galtee mountains in 30-40 minutes or the Knockmealdown mountain range in an hour or so. The best forest in the Galtees is Glengarra forest (600 Ha)and very close to the motorway exit.
Great spot for native forestry and wildlife
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNZgbtRF0jo

If you head east into East Cork
along the N25 you come into East cork, Countless attractions here for Naturelovers
Fota wildllfe park, Ballycotton sea cliff walk , beaches, estuaries, lakes and many Gardens and small forests. This is a good link for a starting point
http://www.irelandcork.com/eco%20trail.htm

Vivisectus

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to put this together Corkboy!

Vivisectus

After weekend after weekend of boring family commitments and other weekend-crippling nonsense I finally got a chance to get out and about htis wekend. Glangarra Woods is really lovely - I did not get to see any deer but I did hear a raven croak. The rhododendron there are massive - they must look spectacular in spring. I know they are an invasive species, but they still look quite beautiful when they intersperse old forest the way they do there.

Went for a walk along the cliff path of Ballycotton on sunday - sea breeze, bright sunshine, white clouds.. the views were quite ridiculously good, one of those sea-views that looks almost tacky, almost too impressive. Spent a fantastic afternoon walking and then paddling in one of the little beaches looking among the rock pools with my youngest.

All in all I had an awesome weekend - thanks again for putting this little mini-guide together! I'll be sure to look into some more of it next weekend.

Vivisectus

Next target: the canon sheehan walk this weekend.

Cork boy 55

Vivisectus wrote: »

After weekend after weekend of boring family commitments and other weekend-crippling nonsense I finally got a chance to get out and about htis wekend. Glangarra Woods is really lovely - I did not get to see any deer but I did hear a raven croak. The rhododendron there are massive - they must look spectacular in spring. I know they are an invasive species, but they still look quite beautiful when they intersperse old forest the way they do there.

It's a a nice valley alright it would be even better if it was all native forestry
I think at present it's
50 hA native forest
520 hA collite non-native conifers plantations.
I think this Valley should managed for tourism and biodiversity , It would be a great tourist resource. The rhododendron near the car park are beautiful there alright when they flower although they really should get rid of them I noticed rhododendron appearing all over the place further up. including blocking one of the paths.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p5XzYMENLQ

RE Deer
There is a herd of fallow deer there alright 20-30 I'd say
Its a good place to spot them in wild as forest is big but not too big and mostly enclosed.
I was there last year and saw 6 separate groups in one walk and everytime i went there I saw them.
Best chance see them, leave the main marked loop walk the "millennium forest walk" and go to the north west and north-east of the forest. Go down the side trails great chance of close encounters with wild deer. I saw loads there last year.
I have been there twice this year,
Once just after Storm Darwin and saw none
Second time in spring I saw four including a new born.
So it's possible the population has had a decline from last year. ?!?
The winter storms knocked quite a few trees down also the fences are down in parts from storm's and sheep are entering the forest and the deer can leave

map here at coillte outdoors site
http://www.coillteoutdoors.ie/index.php?id=171&rec_site=116&activity=&no_cache=1

Vivisectus

I had the chance to go out and about again this weekend - a few hours on saturday and the afternoon on sunday. I wanted to go and see the Canon Sheehan loop walk, but after about an hour with google maps I gave up in frustration. None of the sites seem to agree about where exactly it is, and I was not able to accurately locate the starting point, and if there is one thing I hate it is a lit of frustrating driving around when I should be putting boots to the ground! Does anyone know some reliable way of finding the starting point of that walk?

So I opted to explore Glangarra some in stead, and I am very happy I did. Sunday afternoon was gloriously sunny, and this time I stuck to the left-hand track and followed it all the way out to the north end of the valley. I am happy to report the fallow deer are alive and well: I ran into a small herd of at least 3 does with 2 beautiful fawns at the foot. They are absolutely stunning, and I watched them in admiration for several minutes until the wind blew my scent over to them and they sussed my sitting there. They gave throaty and yet curiously metallic warning bark and disappeared in a twinkle.

There must be a few more groups around, because I heard the bark repeated several times further down the forest, further away than they possibly could have run, so I would expect 3 small herds of does in the north-western part of the woods.

I then pushed on to the back of the woods and into the hills beyond, which was wonderful, but apart from a few larks and similar small birds I did not recognise I did not see much wildlife. That was fine, however, since the landscape was stunning.

On my way back I saw a raven in flight to cap off a terrific afternoon. I intend to head back out there when the weather is nice again for a proper all day ramble and maybe an attempt at one of the hilltops: they look like they offer fantastic views!

Great tip on that one!

Cork boy 55

Vivisectus wrote: »

I had the chance to go out and about again this weekend - a few hours on saturday and the afternoon on sunday. I wanted to go and see the Canon Sheehan loop walk, but after about an hour with google maps I gave up in frustration. None of the sites seem to agree about where exactly it is, and I was not able to accurately locate the starting point, and if there is one thing I hate it is a lit of frustrating driving around when I should be putting boots to the ground! Does anyone know some reliable way of finding the starting point of that walk?

(.....)

The "coillte outdoors" website is a great site for forests ( locations, directions and descriptions) although not all their forests are on it

The forest(coillte recreation site) is called Glenanair

From Cork take N20 to New twopothouse
Take R581 - Doneraile
Take R522 close to junction with N73
Take local road north to ArdPAtrick about 6km its on left see carpark from road
Forest may not signposted IIRC

Map location Glenanair forest here.
http://www.coillteoutdoors.ie/index.php?id=171&rec_site=170&no_cache=1
And the walk loop is called Canon Sheenan loop
http://www.coillteoutdoors.ie/index.php?id=173&trail=321&no_cache=1