Purple moor - grass and rush pastures
Wet rushy pasture dominates some parts of the landscape in Northern Ireland.
Some areas where wet grassland has not been agriculturally improved, reveals a special grassland habitat called purple moor-grass and rush pasture (.PDF 98Kb)
. Purple moor-grass and rush pasture occurs on poorly drained soils in lowland areas which have high rainfall.
This results in the growth of species which are adapted to water logged and wet conditions.
They are grasslands which consist mainly of a grass called purple moor-grass and tall rushes, such as the sharp flowered rush.
A huge range of flowering plant species can occur in this habitat, a 1m2 area could be home to 30 different species.
Characteristic plant species include devil’s-bit scabious, meadow thistle, glaucous sedge, flea sedge, lesser butterfly orchid, water-mint, ragged robin, marsh pennywort and wild angelica. A low coverage of scrub or dwarf shrubs may also occur.
Purple moor-grass and rush pasture may sometimes be referred to as fen meadow or rush pasture.
Fen meadow is usually found on shallow peaty soils and rush pasture is usually found on mineral soils.
Where this habitat occurs on slopes, water flow can create stream-like channels called flushes which provide an exceptionally rich area for plant species. Species such as fairy flax, common butterwort and the notable lesser clubmoss can be found.
Common butterwort is a species which, like the Venus fly-trap, feeds on insects which land on its sticky leaf surfaces!
This habitat is also important for a number of UK priority species such as Irish lady’s-tresses orchid, blue - eyed grass, skylark, reed bunting and the marsh fritillary butterfly which feeds and lays broods of eggs on devil’s-bit scabious.
This grassland can cover large areas, however it is often fragmented and found in wet hollows or field corners. It can also be found within dry grassland, swamp, fen, scrub and flushes.
Northern Ireland contains a high proportion of both the UK and European resource of this habitat. The majority is in County Fermanagh on poorly drained drumlin soils around Upper Lough Erne and in a more upland area on the edges of the Antrim Plateau.
Examples of this habitat can be found on The Ulster Wildlife Trust site at Slievenacloy. and at National Trust properties such as Crom (PDF 167.68 Kb) in County Fermanagh.