Forest open day this Friday with wild food foraging in Offaly woodlands

AN upcoming open day to Clonad woodlands, Tullamore on Friday, September 27 will host a wild food and fungal foray in the historic forest.

Many wild plants, berries, and forest fruits are available at this time of year and together with woodland mushrooms can often result in a cornucopia of wild food to be found in the autumn in Irish woodlands.

Experts will be on hand to guide the walk and identify the edible plants, berries, fruits and mushrooms.

People on the walk will get to pick various woodland mushrooms which will be identified by Maria Cullen, a leading mycologist and expert in forest fungi. Mary Bulfin, a local wild food expert, will identify available forest foods, fruits and berries on site and their potential health benefits and others potentially available within the woodlands at different times of the year.

The walk will move through various areas of Clonad and looking at the different woodland plants and discuss environmental, wildlife and biodiversity considerations. The woodlands have been the site of ground-breaking forest research, both past and present, and this research will be highlighted on the day. Colonel Wolfgang Wolter will outline his deer management and wildlife observations in Clonad.

Stanley Fyfer, a past forest manager in Clonad and significant contributor to private forestry, will be commemorated through the dedication of a woodland bench in his name and new forest signage will be unveiled to highlight some of the important historical, environmental and social attributes of the woodlands.

Clonad’s award winning woodlands are managed for sustainable timber production in tandem with protecting and enhancing biodiversity and fostering associated woodland flora and fauna. There is a particularly wide diversity of tree and plant species found in Clonad and various environmental conservation measures are taken in the woodlands including not employing herbicides.

The field day is a joint collaboration between the Irish Timber Growers Association and the Irish Forestry Unit Trust, along with many contributors from the local community. The open day is free to the public and received funding assistance from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and commences at 10.15am on Friday, September 27. Anyone interested in attending should email office@itga.ie to register and to receive directions to the site.