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 CharacteristicsWoodlands occupy less than 0.5% of the land cover and are restricted to Murlough Farm and Murlough House. Trees are arranged around these and along the avenue leading to the house. Species include Scots pine, Corsican pine, elm, lime, oak, beech and sycamore with rhododendron and blackberry forming an understorey.
Grassland and ArableImproved pastures account for most of the land area behind the dune systems although there is a significant amount of arable. These land covers have limited biodiversity, indeed it is usually confined to the field hedges, however, hedges are generally poor in this windswept coastal LCA.
Semi-natural grassland is rare and confined to small areas, as for example along the cliffs of the raised beach to the east of Minerstown and along embankments of the former railway (now the coastal path). Such sites have species-rich dry grassland with some locally rare species such as crested hair-grass and field madder. They are also notable for butterflies. (Grasslands also occupy dune systems - see below).
Wetlands and LakesThere are no lowland bogs remaining in the LCA. The largest area of fen, at Rathmullan Lower- Ballynagallagh, shows evidence of very old cutting and some attempt at reclamation to give very wet pasture around the edge. Breeding lapwing have been recorded here as well as snipe. Elsewhere, small patches of fen occur in the west of Rathmullan Lower and at Ballyvaston and have fringing carr.
CoastalThe LCA consists mainly of the largest and most important coastal sand dunes system in Northern Ireland that stretches from Newcastle in the west to Minerstown in the east and includes the spits at Murlough and Ballylinler as well as the dunes at Tyrella. The mudflats and other habitats of Inner Dundrum Bay are also included.
The western third of the Murlough dunes is occupied by caravan parks and the golf course; the latter has some small conifer planting, but most of the rough is of gorse and heather heath or dune grasses. Most of the rest of the Murlough dunes are protected in the Murlough ASSI (also NNR, cSAC) that comprises a range of gravel ridges, a re-curved spit, dune systems, palaeosols and beach processes dating from between late glacial and modern times. There is an extensive range of coastal habitats, including scarce vegetation communities and rare plant species. In particular, the Reserve shows a succession from strandline communities and bare sand, through dune grassland and heath to scrub and woodland.
Embryo and foredune communities are poorly presented here and there is a rapid transition behind the beach to semi-fixed and fixed dune grassland communities. Several notable plant species of the strandline and foredunes have, however, been recorded including yellow-horned poppy and sea bindweed. Scarce invertebrates, which are specialist of strandline situations, are recorded including the pill woodlouse, a small intertidal ground beetle, and a coastal carrion beetle. Ringed plover nest along the shoreline, although numbers have declined since the 1970s.
The dune grassland supports a good range of characteristic dune plants and includes a number of orchids including bee orchid and pyramidal orchid. Of particular note is a scarce plant association more normally found in southern Britain and characterised by an abundance of common restharrow, occasional wild thyme and bird's-foot trefoil. The Murlough dunes are the only known location for this association in Northern Ireland.
Inland the dune grasslands grade into extensive stands of mature heather heath. Much of this has become rather rank and invaded by bramble, bracken and an increasing amount of burnet rose due to a lack of grazing in recent years; this is being corrected through controlled grazing, including the use of ponies. Sea buckthorn is common, nevertheless it attracts nesting willow warblers and whitethroats and its berries provide food for wintering thrushes. Excellent lichen-rich heath is found in the dune hollows where underlying shingle ridges are exposed. The inland dune hollows and heathland areas support the marsh fritillary butterfly in a wide range of invertebrate species many of which are at the northern limits of their range.
The Ballykinler dunes have some similar plant communities to those of Murlough, but are less well researched. They are known to have rare species, including a woodlouse which at this location is near to its northern limit in Europe. In the past, Tyrella dunes had heavy recreational pressure which led to erosion of the dunes. Whereas pressures have not declined, Down District Council manages the dunes now; access from the road has been restricted and boardwalks enable people to walk through the dunes without eroding the vegetation cover, a similar strategy to that employed in the open access areas of Murlough.
A fringe of coastal saltmarsh communities is found on the shore of Dundrum Inner Bay. This supports a number of rare and locally rare species including lax-flowered lavender and parsley water-dropwort. However, near to Dundrum village, some saltmarsh has been lost to land-fill.
Dundrum Inner Bay has extensive mudflats and sub-littoral sands and gravels. The sediments are complex, but generally the south end differs from the northern end by a more pronounced freshwater influence and stonier sediment. This complexity gives rise to diversity of invertebrate species that provide an important food source for wintering birds. Dundrum Inner Bay is nationally important for wintering common scoter, greenshank and Brent geese.
East of Ballykinler, in addition to the beaches, rocky promontories and islands are also found which, with rock pools, have high floral and faunal diversity. They are also haul-outs for seals.
Key IssuesGeneral actions for UK and NI Priority Habitats and Priority Species are detailed in the Habitat Action Plans and Species Action Plans.
WOODLANDSIssue: extremely low woodland cover of poor biodiversity value
Actions:
Issue: improved pastures and a considerable amount of arable land of low biodiversity value, with small areas of species-rich dry grassland
Actions:
Issue: the NI Priority Habitat fen, fringed with carr, occurs at Ballynagallagh and Ballyvaston
Actions:
Issue: this LCA contains the most important coastal sand dunes system in Northern Ireland, in addition to the NI Priority Habitats coastal saltmarsh, mudflats and sub-littoral sands and gravel.
Actions: