The storms that hit the island in December and January seem like a long time ago now as we enjoy the spring sunshine and the explosion of daffodils.

But it is only this week that the glen I grew up playing in finally reopened.

Molly Quirk’s Glen seemed to have been hit harder than many other beauty spots following storms Darragh and Eowyn.

The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFA) has announced the glen has partially reopened which allowed me the chance to explore the area after more than three months.

I don’t know if it was the layout of the glen which became a wind tunnel or whether there were just a greater number of weaker or diseased trees.

Either way, it was heartbreaking to see my childhood playground decimated.

Dozens and dozens of trees in the relatively small glen came tumbling down.

Over the years, much work has gone into creating paths, bridges and steps to ensure the glen was as accessible as possible. But some paths have been destroyed by uprooted trees or large, heavy trunks that have crashed down on the walkways.

My friends and I would spend many an hour climbing trees in our youth and I actually recognised some of them, sprawled and broken on the ground.

The Little Mill end of the glen has been particularly badly hit with a row of mature trees which have crashed down towards the stream.

Some of those trees will have been there for decades if not a century or two. I’m know expert but I think many of them or beech trees which can live up to 400 years.

It is as if vandals with the strength of gods had mindlessly rampaged through my playpark and trashed it.

Staff at the DEFA have done an admirable job or making much of the glen accessible once more.

More trees can be planted but you cannot magic up a centuries-old tree.

I also wonder what the hundreds of rooks which nest high in the canopy make of losing so many roosting sites. But they are still there squawking away thankfully.

Nearby Groudle Glen has also suffered. We had a few favourite trees there which we used to climb and some of those have tumbled as well.

The only positive is that the glen looks a little lighter now with the sun able to penetrate through the thinned out canopy.

Molly Quirk’s is one of many glens and plantations to suffer. While it was frustrating the plantations were closed, I don’t feel many will mourn the loss of the fast-growing, commercial firs and pines that fell.

The real sense of loss, in my eyes, are the ancient woodlands such as Molly Quirk’s, Groudle and Colby Glen that have been decimated.

The winds may have long since died down but the impact on some of the island’s best-loved beauty spots will take decades to recover.