New Plant Records

New Plant Records

Today, I visited Croslieve in South Armagh and found new plants for the county

Situated near Forkhill in south Armagh, close to the border, Croslieve forms a series of hills that make up the Ring of Gullion. There is a new walkway through the hill. There are plantations on the hill and overall it is a very scarred landscape, like much of our uplands. Within five minutes I had found a curious looking plant which I thought was a pale out-of-season trefoil of some sort, but I then realised it was something different. I had found Ceratocapnos claviculata, Climbing Corydalis. This is a rare plant in Ireland and not previously recorded from co. Armagh so that was an exciting find.

There are rocky outcrops of I believe granophyre associated with the Palaeocene igneous activity that defines the geology of the Ring of Gullion. Northwest-facing rock faces yielded a small population of Plagiochila spinulosa which is not surprising habitat wise but was a bit of a shock nonetheless. This is the first record for the county and the 3rd colony I have found in the Newry area. There was Saccogyna viticulosa nearby which is another oceanic liverwort which I have recorded in Armagh before in Fathom Forest. There is also a record in Killnasagart which is close by, meaning this is only the 3rd record for the species in co. Armagh!

There is a patch of wet woodland on either side of the newly placed foot bridge with some large willows and loads of new willow growth which is very nice to see. Within the wet woodland I spotted a pine marten which I assume was hunting frogs which there was a tonne of. I have never seen a Pine Marten in the flesh before and it’s interesting to see one during the day in a wet woodland. There was loads of frog spawn in the wet ditches and pools and plenty of mating frogs too. Birds heard include buzzards, dunnock and wrens.

Overall, a successful day all round. The oceanic liverworts points towards remnants of suitable habitat and I was expect to see the recolonisation of oceanic woodland bryophytes if there was regeneration of woodland here. There is holly regeneration but sycamore and the occasional ash constitute the mature trees on the hill. It is a disturbed environment, but I hope to see continued tree regeneration through the years, especially the wet willow woodland.