The oaks at Banagher Glen date from the period when a blanket of forest covered the entire country.

Ireland had been virtually wiped clean of trees and most other vegetation as a result of the ice age.

However, spores and seeds borne by air and sea soon began to colonise the land once more.

In the absence of humans and coupled with a conducive climate, forests began to sprout up across the land.

Banagher Glen holds some of the last fragments of what were once extensive woods covering much of the north-west, it is time capsule taking us back to this time before man first set foot in Ireland and began clearing the forests to farm.

Today, only 6% of N Ireland is wooded, we live in one of the most deforested areas in Europe.