Ballycroy National Park is of international importance

By Tom Gillespie

PARK ranger Cameron Clotworthy, in an article in a book marking a Century of Service by Muintir Mhaigh Eo, Átha Cliath 1905-2005, gave a background to Ballycroy National Park.

He wrote: The park consists of c.11,779 hectares of Atlantic blanket bog in the Owenduff/Nephin Bog area of north-west Mayo. The area contains some of the most important blanket bog in Europe.

Ireland’s western blanket bogs are the most important remaining in western Europe and north-west Mayo contains some of the most extensive examples of this habitat type.

The Owenduff area in the Nephin Mountain in particular is a wild and remote area of blanket bog, cliffs and river habitats containing some rare species of plants. The area is also important as a roosting, feeding and breeding site for certain migratory species, including some species such as the Greenland white-fronted goose.

The Owenduff River is of international importance in conservation terms and it is the last river in western Europe which drains a relatively intact extensive blanket bog system.

Mr. Clotworthy describes some of the outstanding features of a landscape that is as unique as it is remote and spectacular.

Ballycroy National Park, established in November 1998, is Ireland’s sixth national park and is located on the western seaboard on north-west Mayo. It covers a vast uninhabited and unspoilt wilderness dominated by the Nephin Beg mountain range.

The Scardaun Loughs lie between Nephin Beg and Slieve Carr Mountains; at 721 metres above sea level these are the highest mountains in the park.

To the west of the mountains is the Owenduff bog. This is one of the last intact active blanket bog systems in Ireland and western Europe and is an important scientific and scenic feature of the national park. The park also protects a variety of other important habitats and species. These include alpine heath, upland grassland, heath, lakes and river catchments.

Greenland white-fronted geese, golden plover, red grouse and otters are just some of the important fauna found within the park. The national park itself is part of the Owenduff/Nephin Complex Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Area (SPA).

These European designations are part of the Natura 2000 Network, which protect rare and important habitats and species under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives.

The National Park Visitor Centre is located in the village of Ballycroy on the N59 between Mulranny and Bangor Erris. The national park itself can be gained access to by walking the Bangor Trail, a well-known walking route which traverses the park. The Bangor Trail extends from Bangor Erris to Lough Feeagh and crosses the Nephin Beg range. It intersects with the Western Way to the south of the park.

North Mayo is formed partly of rock from the Precambrian period, laid down over 600 million years ago. The Dalradian group from this period, which underlies the national park, were laid down in a marine environment of current-swept shallows with sandy shoal, calcareous lagoons and deeps with muddy floors.

The west side of the park is underlain by schist and gneiss rocks, hardened and crystallised by burial and folding. Quartzite is dominated to the east and southern ends of the park. Glacial activity over the past 2.5 million years has created some of the most scenic features of the park. These include corrie lakes such as Corryloughaphuill Lough. Glacial boulder clay, found at the southern end of the Nephin Beg mountain range, is further evidence of glacial activity.

There is also diversity of habitats within the national park. On of the highest peaks, Slieve Carr, alpine heath is found. Other habitats include upland grassland, wet and dry heath, lakes and rivers such as Owenduff and Tarsaghaun, which flow into the sea northwest of Ballycroy.

However, with as much as 2,000mm of rainfall per year, the predominant habitat is the active Atlantic blanket bog, which covers most of the park area. A variety of interesting plants are found within the bog habitat.

These include sphagnum mosses, black bog rush (a notable component of Atlantic blanket bog), purple-moor grass, bog cotton, deer-grass, cross-leaved heath, bell heather, white-beaked sedge, bog asphodel, bog myrtle, orchids, lousewort, milkwort, lichens, sundew and butterwort.

Sundew and butterwort are insectivorous plants that have adapted to the nutrient bog environment by trapping and digesting insects caught on their leaves.

The blanket bog contains an extensive mosaic of bog pools, which are poor in nutrients but are important habitats for plants such as bog bean. In the lakes, while the diversity of plants is low, there is a well-developed flora on the margins. These include water lobelia, pipewort, common spike-rush, and bulbous rush.

Rare plants found in the park include the ivy-leaved bellflower, which flowers during July and August. This is found on wet grassland along the banks of the Tarsaghaun and Owenduff rivers. Another rare plant, the marsh saxifrage, protected under the Flora Protection Order (1999), occurs in flushes on the blanket bog, where there is an upwelling of nutrients to the surface.

Purple saxifrage, alpine meadow rue, least willow and stiff sedge are examples of rare alpine heath plant species, which have been recorded from the national park mountains. These alpine plants are more commonly found at altitude in colder areas of Europe. The dominant plants that are also found in the mountain areas include bell and ling heather, crowberry and bilberry.

Mammal species found in the park include the fox, badger, mountain hare, otter and feral American mink, pigmy shrew and bat species, including the common bat round in Ireland, the pipistrelle. Non-native red deer, which were introduced in the locality of Bellacorick in recent years, can now be found on the margins of the park. Pine marten are present in the conifer plantations on the boundary of the park.

The Owenduff and Tarsaghaun rivers are renowned for salmon and sea trout while rivers and lakes contain brown trout.

The national park supports a variety of bird species, including dippers, common sandpipers, woodcock, dunlin, skylarks, meadow pipits, ravens, hooded crows and whooped swans. Birds of prey found include kestrels and sparrow hawks while rare species such as merlins and peregrine falcon are also resident.

Hen harriers are winter visitors. Red grouse are resident in the park and rely on a mix of different height heathers. High heather provides cover from predators while young shoots are necessary for the chicks to feed on.

Rarer species utilise the area either as winter feeding grounds or as summer breeding grounds.

Greenland white-fronted geese are winter visitors and are present in the park from October to April. They feed on the roots of bog cotton and white-beaked sedge found on quaking bog.

Golden plover are common winter visitors to Ireland but only a small population breed in the summer on the upland areas of the west of Ireland, including Ballycroy National Park.