Whether you are walking, mountain biking, cycling or simply in it for the views and immersing yourself in the natural beauty of it all - here are some spots that really highlight the difference between commercial and native woodlands which you can appreciate this autumn.

There is a lot more to unpack, looking into all of the plans for the immediate area around Dublin - that will get it’s own post later, so subscribe to learn more about that as we dive into the docs again.

Tibradden - a surprise at the end of the fire road.

The surprise is.. another forest across the valley. Where Tibradden lane forks off into the national forestry area that is home to Zippit - if you know that one, you’ll find this spot. At the edge of the forest you can gaze across the valley to see what a natural treasure looks like. What’s really striking is looking across the valley to Kilmashogue but then turning around and looking at the area behind you that has recently been clear felled.

The woods here and the feather beds above are all of the commercial forest variety with lodge pole pine and sitka spruce dominating the landscape, the forests here are musty dead zones not fit to support any kind of biodiversity. This area will however be re-afforested soon with native woodlands under a continuous cover forestry management plan.

An area covering 2.6 hectares has already been clear felled here of the Sitka Spruce that had been growing there since 1990 - the area will be re-afforrested with Oak, Birch, Rowan and Scots Pine. Exclosures and other meaures to prevent deer from feasting on whats planted will be needed. You can see an area that has already been prepared for CCF in Cruagh woods on the other side of the Pine Forest road from here.

You have the benefit of being able to walk over to this point from the end of the Zippit car park or you can get there by taking a left from the Merry Ploughboy - one of our favourite routes to access the mountains by bike.

Massey’s Wood and the Hellfire Club - a lot more than the leaves will be changing here soon.

Masseys is a simply spectacular place to immerse yourself in. With towering beech trees and secluded pathways that lead across a river and down to ruins from times gone by. With pastoral views over on one side and steepening slopes on the other. There are also plenty of ruins to be found at the bottom of this little rabbit run. From what’s left you can just about imagine what this place once would have been like when it was a vegetable garden for a now lost estate. The stream that runs down the middle provides a nice background noise at this ever more quiet end of the year.

We recommend you get in here before work begins to remove all the invasive species and the non-native commercial forestry is turned over to continuous cover forestry - which will be glorious when its done but will mean a lot of upheaval in the mean time. It isn’t clear how long the works will take once they commence.

With the addition of a visitors centre being constructed across the road in the Hellfire Club Coillte will also be adding a ‘sky bridge’ for crossing from one side to the other. We look forward to seeing how this will be sensitively implemented without the need for removing any of the really glorious trees from the area. You can read more about the plans and what exactly will be happening from our summary of the planning documents as they stand in our previous post ‘Hellfire and biodiversity’.

Knockree - a bit of the Wicklow Way with a pitstop at a café.

Here you can visit the Glencree Peace Centre with a café that is allegedly sometimes open.The beautifully well kept German Cemetery is just across the road where there is a lovely waterfall. Further down the valley in the grounds of what was the Knockree Youth Hostel you can see some tremendous effort being put into restoring nature, the trees planted in previous years are just starting to strain against the tree tubes that have protected them in their early life.

The Glencree River in the bottom of the valley is consciously planted with plenty of hazel trees and you can see the work put in to creating hedge rows as well as a nursery that has been established to provide more trees and hedgerow species for the area.