Aghanloo Wood ASSI

Aghanloo is important because it is one of the largest continuous blocks of ancient woodland in Northern Ieland and boasts an extremely wide range of plant species. Although the canopy is relatively low there is a long history of woodland cover in the area; this is indicated by the presence of such rare plants as the birds nest orchid.

In the northern half of the wood where conditions are dryer, hazel dominates, with ash as the main standard. Willow is dominant in the stream gullies and on the lower slopes. downy birch, common cherry, and sessile oak are also present with hawthorn and blackthorn forming the majority of the shrub layer.

On the ground, a wide variety of flowering plants are present along with grasses, sedges, ferns and mosses. On dryer slopes wood sorrel, wild strawberry and barren Strawberry are found among the carpets of bluebell and wood anemone. Species such as bugle, lesser celendine, wood sedge and opposite-leaved golden saxifrage are more common on damper ground, with meadowsweet and greater water- horsetail dominant in heavily waterlogged areas.

Woods take a very long time to develop into mature systems because they have a complex structure and many of the plants are slow to grow and spread. It is therefore vitally important that all remaining areas of woodland are retained and are new areas are encouraged to regenerate.

Site Related Documents

Site map (.PDF 805Kb), Citation document (.PDF 130Kb) and Views about Management (VAM) document (.PDF 55Kb).