Ballymacaldrack ASSI

This area is of special scientific interest because of its species-rich wet grassland. Species-rich wet grassland tends to occur only where land management is not intensive, in particular where traditional farming practices have been maintained. As a result, it is not a widespread habitat in Northern Ireland and is often fragmented, consisting of individual fields, parts of fields or banks. Species-rich wet grasslands, like those found at Ballymacaldrack, are a scarce resource in Northern Ireland as most of the habitat has been agriculturally improved to some extent.

Ballymacaldrack is situated on the lower slopes of Long Mountain to the east of Lough Naroon approximately 1km south of Dunloy. The soils are freely-draining brown earths, derived from the underlying parent material of basic igneous rock. The area occurs just below the plateau of Long Mountain, an extensive area that has been largely unaffected by intensive agriculture due to its particularly wet climate and its relative inaccessibility. The area slopes upwards towards the base of a rock cliff that is about 3-4 metres in height. The vegetation at Ballymacaldrack is mostly composed of species-rich rush pasture, but there are also some interesting drier grassland communities located at the base of the cliff. Fen meadow is also present at the top of the cliff where water movement through the soils is evident.

The area of rush pasture is dominated by sharp-flowered rush with a high coverage of herbs representative of species-rich rush pasture communities. Purple moor-grass is a constant component of the sward along with red fescue, Yorkshire-fog and sweet vernal-grass. Sedges are abundant in the sward and include glaucous sedge, carnation sedge, yellow-sedge and tawny sedge. Herbs present are typical of traditionally managed rush pasture grasslands and include greater bird’s-foot-trefoil, Devil’s-bit scabious, bugle, common marsh-bedstraw, ragged-Robin, meadow buttercup, lesser spearwort and marsh willowherb.

Where there is increased water movement through the soil and localised waterlogging around the immediate vicinity of the cliff top, then species reflecting the wetter conditions predominate. On the upper parts of the area species distinctive of fen meadow are present, with sharp-flowered rush and purple moor-grass abundant amongst extensive patches of meadow thistle. Other species distinctive to this type of vegetation present include tormentil, tawny sedge, heather and Devil’s-bit scabious.

Around the cliff where the soils are relatively thin and drier, species-rich lowland meadow occurs. Rushes are very scarce and the vegetation is dominated by grasses, with a high cover of herbs and occasional sedges. Plants distinctive of this type of vegetation include lady’s bedstraw, common bird’s-foot-trefoil, red fescue, mouse-ear-hawkweed, glaucous sedge, common knapweed and yellow oat-grass. Plants of note found in this area include greater butterfly-orchid, bulbous buttercup and zgzag clover.

Ballymacaldrack is an area of semi-natural grassland managed in a traditional way. As such, it provides valuable feeding and roosting sites for a range of animals, including birds and invertebrates.

Site Related Documents

Site map (.PDF 615kb), Citation document (.PDF 135Kb) and Views about Management document (.PDF 62Kb).