Return of the wild?<\/p>\n
Outside of Ireland, ancient place names are also drawing attention for their ecological potential. Researchers have looked to Old English place names in Britain<\/a> in the hope of gaining a better understanding of locations at risk of flooding. That could in turn prompt solutions around flood resilience planning.<\/p>\n Rewilding projects in Scotland have taken note of Scots Gaelic place names mentioning trees<\/a>, citing them as potential cues for where tree-planting efforts could occur.<\/p>\n But one shouldn’t take place names too literally. “Just because a place name mentions a tree or an animal doesn’t necessarily mean that that tree or animal was actually there \u2013 it might have been a metaphor, it might have been a symbol,” says Nic Craith.<\/p>\n There is a place I sometimes go sea swimming, not far from Belfast, called Portmuck. It sounds a little off-putting in English, but muc in Irish means pig and some say this was most likely a port that people brought pigs to. Having said that, the nearby Isle of Muck (Oile\u00e1n na Muc), now a bird sanctuary<\/a>, looks to me a bit like a pig lying on its front with part of its body submerged. Is that the reason for the name? There’s another Isle of Muck in Scotland<\/a>, in that case apparently named after muc-mara, sea-pigs or whales. Sometimes “muck” has nothing to do with (land-roaming) pigs at all.<\/p>\n More like this: Ray \u00d3 Foghl\u00fa, head of partnerships and development at Hometree, a nature restoration charity in Ireland, says place names are not “instructions” to recreate the past: “Their real value is in showing us what a landscape has been capable of.” Ecologists can then test locations for their rewilding potential. Equally, somewhere with no hint of trees or woods in its name could actually be a perfect site, today, for a tree-planting project, for example. Nic Craith describes place names as “a starting point”.<\/p>\n And who knows where they will lead you. Although Peig Sayers never lived to see it, white-tailed eagles were reintroduced to County Kerry in 2007<\/a>, at Killarney National Park, roughly 52 miles (83km) from Sliabh an Iolair. There are now roughly 150 white-tailed eagles<\/a> in the wild in Ireland. They are breeding, and sustaining their own population. Golden eagle reintroductions are also underway<\/a> elsewhere on the island.<\/p>\n Tantalisingly, some of the white-tailed eagles have even found their way back to the area around Sliabh an Iolair<\/a>.<\/p>\n Perhaps eagles will one day build a new nest on that famous mountain. A place that, once again, is named after animals living in this part of the world \u2013 memories reborn.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter<\/a> \u2013 a handpicked selection of features, videos and can’t-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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