Limestone Pavement
Despite its barren appearance, limestone pavement (.PDF 108.39 Kb)
is home to a unique range of plants and it creates a stunning landscape.
Limestone is a sedimentary rock that was formed by both chemical processes and compaction of the remains of marine life which lived in the warm shallow seas surrounding Ireland millions of years ago.
Most Irish limestone is around 360 million years old. Exposed limestone is naturally faulted and cracked. The cracks are known as grykes and the upstanding ‘paving’ blocks are known as clints, giving the appearance of a pavement.
About 4000 years ago, wooded areas of limestone pavement were felled for agriculture. Woodland plants were unable to grow on the surface of the pavement where the soils were thin or non-existent, and retreated into the grykes where there was deeper soil, shade, humidity and protection from grazing.
This explains why woodland species are found on limestone pavement and what makes this habitat so unusual.
Typical woodland species found on limestone pavement include herb robert, wood sorrel and common dog-violet. The high proportion of ferns commonly found is down to the shady, humid conditions in grykes. Hart’s-tounge and brittle bladder fern along with mosses and liverworts are common residents.
Limestone pavement is noted for its diverse range of lime-loving plants such as blue moor - grass and wild thyme. However, in areas where heavy rain has removed lime from the shallow soils, lime hating plants such as heather are able to grow along side the lime-loving plants.
Limestone pavement also provides habitat for fauna such as the Irish hare, stoat, common lizard, skylark, wren, wheatear and cuckoo. Grazing has a strong influence on vegetation and plant life. Appropriate grazing keeps the vegetation short, rich in species and allows herbs to flower and set seed.
These herbs in turn provide food for insects such as the common blue butterfly.and a wide range of less common insects, butterflies and moths occur including the grayling and dingy skipper.
In Northern Ireland limestone pavement is only found in west County Fermanagh. Most of the pavement is quite fragmented and occurs as part of a natural habitat mosaic, which consists of bare pavement, pockets of mineral soils and peat, which has covered some of the formerly exposed limestone.
Places to visitThis habitat can be seen in Northern Ireland at such sites as Killykeeghan & Crossmurrin National Nature Reserve and in the same area other limestone features can be seen at Marble Arch Caves European Geopark where there is also an information centre. You can read the details of the 2008 exhibition Our limestone Heritage(PDF 865 Kb).
In other parts of Ireland you can vist Dromore Woods National Nature Reserve, Ennis, County Clare, Garryland National Nature Reserve, Gort, County Galway and Keelhilla National Nature Reserve, north-east edge of the Burren plateau, County Clare.
Burrenbeo Resource Centre, Main Street, Kinvara, County Galway and The Burren Centre, Kilfenora, County Clare.