Our woods deserve a future
not just a clearfelling
Merlin Park Woods, Galway City
Why is Merlin Woods under threat?
- Storm Éowyn caused real, significant damage across Merlin Woods, and Galway City Council is now running a storm-recovery programme across roughly 17.5 hectares. Clearing the genuinely storm-damaged trees is necessary, and the community has supported that from the start.
- As the plan has developed and the community and Friends of Merlin Woods have engaged with the detail, questions have grown about why healthy, undamaged woodland has also been included in the clearance — not just the areas the storm actually affected.
- Independent professionals — a forester, a zoologist and an ecologist — have since reviewed the earlier reports and found that full clearfelling isn't the only way to meet the safety goals. Targeted work on the areas genuinely at risk, alongside alternative forestry methods, can deliver the same safety outcome while keeping far more of the woodland standing.
- The disagreement isn't about whether safety work is needed — everyone agrees it is. It's about whether removing healthy, mature trees is actually required to achieve that, or whether a more selective approach gets the same result with far less lost.
- Because clearance can't be undone, Friends of Merlin Woods and members of the local community are asking that this question be settled with the full evidence in hand — before the trees come down, not after.
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Latest News on Merlin Woods
Storm recovery — or an unnecessary clearfell?
Galway City Council's stated aim has been to address health and safety concerns following storm damage. New independent reports commissioned by Friends of Merlin Woods show these safety goals can be met without wide-scale clearance of the 3.5 hectares — a collaborative way forward for the Council and the community, and a fighting chance for the red squirrels.
Because the wood needs to be managed as one ecosystem, not two, we're also raising concerns about the wider clearance planned for the remaining conifer areas — standing, fallen and storm-damaged alike. Closing the technical gaps identified and applying independent forestry data would let the Council and community work together to avoid wider ecological and environmental harm.
Monivea Clearfell today
Merlin Woods North Today
Disclaimer: The image on the left is real. The image on the right is also real but AI was used to add the standard forestry fence. The image on the right is for illustrative purposes only and use as a visual aid. This follows the AI-labelling principle behind the EU AI Act's Article 50.
A city wood with an old memory
Merlin Park woods is the oldest and largest urban woodland within the boundaries of Galway City. It was included on the first ordnance survey map from the 1840's.
As part of the Merlin Park estate it has undergone many changes over the years and now the Merlin Park Hospital is at its centre, where once the Merlin Park House stood. The management of the woodlands is currently between two public bodies, Galway City Council and the Health Service Executive.
There are many historic features, one of them being the 15th-16th century tower house known as Merlin Castle. The woodland is surrounded by urban development and it provides not only a sanctuary for the wildlife, but also acts as an important recreational space for the local community.
Friends of Merlin Woods have been exploring, photographing and recording the wildlife here since 2012.
Conditions right now
What's growing in the wood
A working mosaic of native and planted trees, with wildflowers timed to the season.
Native canopy
- Oak quercus
- Ash fraxinus
- Hazel corylus
- Silver birch betula
- Holly ilex
Planted & exotic
- Beech fagus
- Sycamore acer
- Sweet chestnut castanea
- Lime tilia
- Norway pine & larch conifer
Ground & meadow
- Bluebells spring
- Wood anemone spring
- Orchid-rich hay meadow summer
- Bramble & fern understorey year-round
Who you might meet on the trail
The woods and their adjoining meadow are recognised as a priority habitat, and support a wide resident and visiting cast.
The wood's best-known resident, seen working the mature broadleaf canopy for hazelnuts and beech mast.
Ranges across both the woodland and the open meadow edge, most active at dawn and dusk.
The orchid-rich meadow is a designated foraging habitat, drawing several bat species out at dusk.
Subject of the long-running Galway Butterfly Project, alongside bumblebees, hoverflies and dragonflies.
A resident and migrant chorus — evening "dusk chorus" walks are led with BirdWatch Ireland.
Finding your way through
Free and open year-round, with a car park and playground at the Doughiska Road entrance.
The longer waymarked circuit, taking in both the mature broadleaf stands and the conifer plantings.
A shorter route through the older woodland, best for a slow walk and close-up birdwatching.
The ruin of a late-medieval tower house, once known as Doughiska Castle, standing in the North Wood.
A community group organising guided walks, biodiversity events and the wood's ongoing upkeep.