Lough Boora Discovery Park

Bord na Mona harvested peat from this bog industrially for decades, and when the workings ended what remained was a flat cutaway landscape stripped to the underlying clay and gravel. Rather than leave it, the company and local groups began rehabilitating it from the 1990s: lakes were allowed to form in the cuttings, native trees and grassland established, and wetland birds moved in - including grey partridge, the subject of a dedicated reintroduction programme here, and a growing list of waders and wildfowl. There are around fifty kilometres of walking and cycling trails on the old bog railway lines, mostly flat and firm. The other element is the sculpture park, begun in 2002, with large outdoor works made partly from bog oak, industrial machinery and materials left on site. Mesolithic settlement was excavated here in the 1970s, some of the earliest evidence of people in the Irish midlands.

What's there

• The rehabilitated cutaway - lakes and grassland where peat was stripped.
• The sculpture park - large outdoor works using bog oak and old machinery.
• The bird life - grey partridge, waders and wildfowl on the new wetlands.
• The trail network - about fifty flat kilometres on old bog railway lines.

When to go

April to October. Spring and autumn are the best for birds. The site is entirely open with no shelter - wind and rain are unpleasant here.

Practical notes

It is a post-industrial landscape and looks like one in places - flat, open and treeless. No shelter anywhere on the trails. Facilities are limited and some are seasonal.

Nearby

Clara Bog is north; Birr and Clonmacnoise are within a short drive.