Moyle Moorlands And Forests Biodiversity Profile

In the following account of this LCA it should be noted that for consistency, the biodiversity section follows the standard order for all LCAs even though some of the communities discussed later may have more importance for biodiversity than those discussed earlier

Key Characteristics

• Woodlands account for c.21% of the land cover, about four times the average for Northern Ireland. Almost all of this is coniferous State Forest and planted mainly on former blanket bog.
• although broadleaved woodland is limited, occupying less than 1% of the land cover, Breen Wood is of national importance as a probable ancient upland oakwood
• grassland is dominated by rough grassland on upland margins; improved pastures limited to lowland in the west and north
• extensive blanket bog, including large tracts of internationally important intact bog with diversity of microtopography, habitats and species
• some upland heathland, a declining habitat in Northern Ireland, with existing management in some parts to maintain it and populations of red grouse- a declining species in Northern Ireland

Woodlands

Woodlands account for c.21% of the land cover, about four times the average for Northern Ireland. Almost all of this is coniferous State Forest and planted mainly on former blanket bog. Sitka spruce dominates throughout the forests with some Norway spruce, Japanese larch and lodgepole pine. Generally, the forests are of low biodiversity - much lower than the blanket peatland they have replaced - and the only Priority Species recorded is red squirrel. (Red grouse are recorded in some unplanted areas within the forest boundaries.)

Broadleaved woodland is limited, occupying less than 1% of the land cover. At Belladoo Bridge the woodland is of a planted origin - sessile oak, beech, horse chestnut and ash are the main species with some alder and mountain ash. The understorey is dominated by cherry laurel, and the herb layer by woodrush, hard and buckler ferns; there is also a good cover of mosses and lichens. In contrast, Breen Wood ASSI (also SAC and NNR) is regarded as semi-natural, acid woodland dominated by mature oak and birch. It is regarded as one of the best examples of ancient upland oakwood in Northern Ireland. Many of the oaks are multi-stemmed, which may indicate some past coppicing. Oak is dominant on the steep sides of the meltwater channels whereas the flat-topped areas between and the outer upland margins are dominated by birch. Holly and rowan (mountain ash) form most of the understorey. Great wood-rush dominates the ground flora over large parts of the wood, although there is a good diversity of species. The rare moss Hylocomium umbratum has been recorded, its only known location in Northern Ireland. Breeding birds include the rare wood warbler and notable pied flycatcher as well as a rich mixture of other passerines and raptors. Mammals include red squirrel.

Grassland and Arable

Grassland accounts for 36% of the land cover - a low percentage explained by the upland character of the LCA. Only a third of the grassland is improved pasture, concentrated on the lowland of the western and northern edges and along the Inver Burn. In the Inver lowlands the pasture fields climb the south facing slopes of Knocklayd to the upper limit of the chalk outcrop where they quickly degenerate into rough pasture and peaty vegetation, whereas on the north facing slopes they are only found at the western end and are restricted to the till covered land below 200m. The low biodiversity of these improved pastures is not relieved by hedges. Most field boundaries are fences with intermittent hawthorn and whin. On the western and northern edges too, upper fields have been neglected leading to reversion to rushes; hedges are intermittent, poorly maintained and often only remnant hawthorn shrubs. There are few trees in the hedgerows, generally of ash.

Despite the dominance of improved pastures and lack of hedges, lowlands in the west have records of Priority species of birds - skylark, song thrush, tree sparrow and yellowhammer.

Rough grassland dominates the upland margins, merging with peatland. Mat grass, bent, sheep's fescue and wavy hair grass are common grasses and heath bedstraw and tormentil are also common. Where flushing occurs, then sharp-flowered rush may dominate.

Heaths and Bogs

Although coniferous forests have been planted over a considerable proportion of the plateau in this LCA, blanket bog remains extensive; blanket bog is confined in Europe to the northwest fringe so that extensive examples are of international importance.

About 35% of the blanket peat in this LCA has been cut-over and peat erosion, both severe hagging on the summits and gullies on the slopes, accounts for around 12%. Even allowing for other peatland types (flushes, drained areas, thin peat) intact peatland still comprises about 18% of the blanket bog and includes some relatively large tracts - e.g. between the Owencam River and Ballypatrick Forest; Eshery; Beaghs (Slieveanorra Lower); and east of Slievenahanaghan. Many of these tracts contain deep peat, often over basins in the underlying rock surface, with good examples of pool and hummock microtopography; indeed these deep areas may be regarded as upland raised bogs within the blanket peat. The lower part of Slieveanorra NNR may be taken as an example of these deep areas. Here, there are deep, open pools with some bog bean as well as pools with aquatic bog mosses (including Sphagnum cuspidatum) that lead into lawns of other bog mosses (e.g. S. papillosum), sundews and bog ashpodel. Some of the hummocks are large and dominated by woolly hair moss, whereas others are lower with common heather and bog mosses adapted to slightly drier conditions (e.g. Sphagnum acutifolia) than those found on the general bog surface. That surface is characterised by deer sedge, cotton sedges, cross-leaved heath and bog mosses. This lower part of the NNR also has a former bog burst, a feature found elsewhere in this northeast corner of Antrim. The upper parts of the NNR display several forms of peat erosion.

In some deep peat areas Sphagnum imbricatum, a species relatively rare to blanket and lowland bogs in the UK, forms scattered low hummocks. The intact peat areas also contain flushes, in which purple moor grass is frequently dominant, but there are flushes with black bog-rush, a species predominantly of the western seaboard of the UK and Ireland.

Not only is cut-over peat extensive in the LCA, but there is also recent cutting, both by hand and with the compact harvester machines. Both forms tend to be located in parts accessible from roads and therefore tend to be in areas that have been cut in the past. However, there is some encroachment into intact bog.

The blanket bogs are important not only for the habitats and plant species but also for relatively rare birds - hen harriers, merlins, wetland birds including snipe and curlew, and red grouse have all been recorded. Red grouse is a declining species in Ireland and management at the Slieveanorra Moor FNR is aimed at increasing and perpetuating the grouse population.

However, past management for game birds has affected the upland habitats in this LCA. For example, the vegetation of Cushleake Mountain has been degraded by a history of burning and management as grouse moor as well as by drainage, peat cutting and overgrazing. Nevertheless this upland heathland with its patches of common heather interspersed with acid grass has notable plant species, including cranberry and fir club-moss, and a good invertebrate flora with less common species such as large heath butterfly and bilberry bumblebee. There is a breeding population of red grouse and hen harrier have also been observed. The site is enhanced by a small area of upland calcareous grassland on its margin with LCA 121. Other examples of upland heath occur where the peat is thin, sometimes as a result of past cutting, but also as a response to steeper slopes.

Wetlands and Lakes

There is very little fen in the LCA. The small arm of Loughareema to the west of the road remains permanently flooded with the formation of a bottle sedge swamp in the shallow water; small wet gullies into the lough have a range of wetland communities but of no significant area. Altnahinch Dam was the only lake in this LCA to be surveyed by the Northern Ireland Lake Survey and was classified as mesotrophic (mesotrophic lakes) but of low priority. Many rivers have their headwaters and those of tributary streams in these uplands

Key Issues

General actions for UK and NI Priority Habitats and Priority Species are detailed in the Habitat Action Plans and Species Action Plans.

WOODLANDS

Issue: low broadleaved woodland cover, but sites of national significance

Actions:

• further study of the history of broadleaved woodlands particularly any ancient and long-established, as a key to future management
• encourage control of grazing in some broadleaved woodlands to foster regeneration and if necessary, encourage replanting of canopy species
• consider experiments in controlled grazing in parts of Breen Wood to reduce dominance of wood rush and encourage increase of other species in herb and ground layers
• encourage planting of native broadleaved plantations in lowland margins rather than the small conifer plantations which are of poor biodiversity and landscape value

GRASSLAND AND ARABLE

Issue: poor biodiversity of improved pastures

Actions:

• maintain and improve field boundaries especially hedgerows . This may be achieved through adoption of correct cutting cycles; hedge laying and replanting where necessary; leaving saplings uncut to develop into hedgerow trees; avoidance of spraying with fertilizers, slurry, herbicides; provision of wildlife strips and conservation headlands around fields; and limitation of field amalgamation.
• encourage (through participation in Environmental Schemes) adoption of less intensive management of pastures to allow reversion to more species-rich grassland and protect unsown areas of species-rich grassland

HEATH AND BOGS

Issue: loss of upland heathland and decline in its biodiversity

Actions:

• promote membership of ESA and other environmental schemes through consultation with farmers and thereby
• control grazing intensity on existing heathland to encourage development of heathland and of heather of different ages
• ensure that burning is carried out according to guidelines
• encourage attempts to retain and increase populations of red grouse
• discourage afforestation

Issue: LCA contains blanket bogs, particularly relatively large tracts of intact bog, which are of national and international importance

Actions:

• maintain the integrity of existing bogs by preventing fires, new drainage and new peat cutting (especially on intact bog)
• consider restoration of bog habitats through appropriate water level management, for example by damming drains (note the Owencam-Ballypatrick Forest area)
• prevent new forest planting on blanket bog

WETLANDS

Issue: relatively unpolluted rivers and tributaries of importance for Priority Species andsalmonid fish within the LCA and neighbouring LCAs.

Actions:

• protect water quality of rivers by reducing suspended sediments from peat cutting/forestry operations
• promote and encourage existing good farming practices so that streams are not polluted by run-off from agricultural land, seepage from silage pits or other nutrient rich waters

Click here to return to the Northern Ireland LCA Map