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What an honour today to welcome The President of Ireland Catherine Connolly President Catherine Connolly and her husband...
09/10/2026

What an honour today to welcome
The President of Ireland Catherine Connolly President Catherine Connolly and her husband, Brian McEnery to Wildacres.

It was such a privilege to have the opportunity to show The President our Biodiversity Education Centre, walk together through the Nature Reserve, and introduce her to our incredible team of volunteers.

It was wonderful then to get the chance to sit down and chat over a cuppa about biodiversity restoration in Ireland.

We are so grateful. Thank you President Catherine Connolly for visiting Wildacres 🙏

This is a very Special Day we will always remember! 💚

04/10/2026

12th September was the day that ‘Barnadette’ started checking out our Wildlife Tower. A very exciting and joyful day for us (note - we’ve waited 9 years for this moment 😉)

In this video from that day you can see this beautiful female juvenile Barn Owl investigating the Kestrel nest box, which faces west. Then she moved around to the east side and spent two days roosting in the Barn Owl box - heading out at 8pm ish each evening and returning around 6.30am after a night of hunting and feeding herself.

On the 3rd morning she didn’t return and we had an anxious wait…..

Luckily she re-appeared a week later and spent more than a week with us entertaining us with her routine comings and goings.

We’ve received so many lovely messages from people who are hugely interested in this story and her welfare. Five mornings ago she didn’t return to the box and as she doesn’t have a tracker on her we don’t know where she’s gone or how she’s doing.

It’s not unusual for Barn owns to have several roosts so we can only hope that she is comfortable and safe wherever she is.

We once again wait patiently (we try!) and hope she’ll come back to us. We’ll post here as soon as she does so follow us if you’d like to hear the latest news….

Our Wildacres logo features the barn owl - once prolific across Ireland and now red listed due to near extinction 🦉 This beautiful creature represents our hope and action for bringing biodiversity back to this beautiful island of Ireland.

There are thousands of wonderful initiatives across Ireland. Join in! We can solve the biodiversity crisis together 💚 💪

28/09/2026

She’s very curious about the camera in her roost box!! 😅💚🦉

What a privilege to get an insight into the life of a barn owl.

She roosts by day from 6/6.30am to approx 8pm and then heads off every evening to go hunting for food and is gone till morning.

We reckon she’s not having to go too far to hunt. We have great habitat for mice and voles and shrews on the nature reserve.

We are so honoured to have featured in Irish Independent Climate Changemakers at the weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed bein...
28/09/2026

We are so honoured to have featured in Irish Independent Climate Changemakers at the weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed being interviewed by Aisling Maria Cronin and are so impressed with how skilfully she turned our conversation into this special piece.

Thank you Aisling 🙏💚

And thanks to Hazel and the lovely team at &Smyth Communications for connecting us. We love working with you guys 💚

Being part of a wonderful community of changemakers across climate, biodiversity, environment, sustainability, gives great hope - you can feel the movement growing - you can see the actions being taken across Ireland - we need to continue connecting and acting and bringing everyone along with us. For planets sake and that of future generations 💚

Business has a vital role to play in reversing the climate and biodiversity crises. And we are offering the perfect packages for organisations to partner with us and therefore support more biodiversity restoration in Ireland. Check out our ‘Partner with Us’ page on our website Wildacres.ie Link in bio.

27/09/2026

Checking the weather and deciding it’s just too wet and windy to go out 🦉Wise Owl 😉

26/09/2026

Why can a Barn Owl rotate its head a whopping 270 degree? One very important reason is because their large eyes, are fixed in their sockets to give give them the benefit of binocular vision aiding prey detection at night.

Unable to move their eyes, they use the extensive movement of their head to see in all directions 🦉🦉🦉🦉

Also helpful when you want to scratch an itch in an awkward place like this young female is doing 😁

The Barn Owl is a red listed species in need of our protection 💚

What fitting way to celebrate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Week than to dig two more ponds at Wildac...
25/09/2026

What fitting way to celebrate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Week than to dig two more ponds at Wildacres with the wonderful team from Yahoo!

Yahoo! are the first team to see the Secret Acre at Wildacres - an area that is now surrounded by native hedgerow on 4 sides with a willow archway entrance in the making !

We love having the Yahoo team to work with us each September and the fact that they’ve been coming to us since we opened in 2022 💚💚💚💚

We greatly value their support and friendship. Thanks Sean and all the Yahoo team 🙏💚

Supporting Wildacres means Yahoo is supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals:

Good health and well-being :

At Wildacres we promote and encourage connecting with nature; proven to benefit physical health and mental well-being.

Quality Education

Through our workshops, tours and other outputs we provide education – not just about nature but also sustainable lifestyles (SDG target 4.7)

Clean Water and Sanitation

We protect and restore water-related ecosystems (SDG target 6.6) such as ponds and riverbanks – improving water quality & decreasing flooding risks.

Decent Work and Economic Growth

We promote sustainable tourism that promotes local culture and products (SDG target 8.9). We advertise and collaborate with local suppliers and destinations.

Responsible Production and Consumption

At Wildacres we minimise the use of materials, reuse wherever we can, and promote responsible consumption through our own sustainably produced goods.

Climate Action

Through the planting of over 15,000 trees, creation of now 72 ponds, native hedgerows, meadows etc, we capture carbon, and strengthen resilience to climate-related hazards (SDG target 13.1)

Life On Land

Our aim at Wildacres is to take urgent action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt biodiversity loss (SDG target 15.5), and to encourage others to do the same.

23/09/2026

Our Barn Owl checking out the Kestrel nest/roosting box early this morning! But she has since found her way around to the Barn Owl box. Follow for more footage 💚🦉

22/09/2026

Delighted to share the amazing news that ‘Barnadette’ is back ! A week after spending two days in the Wildlife Tower she has thankfully returned. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

It was an anxious week wondering had she met her demise after going out hunting on a very wet evening on 14th September.

We are beyond thrilled 🤩 we’ve waited 9 years for this moment. We’re pinching ourselves 🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉🦉

Address

Scratenagh
Arklow

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+353862739391

Website

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