West Fermanagh Scarplands runs from Sraniff and Kilgarrow in the north to Aghahoorin and Carn in the south, while extending back through a series of escarpments and ridges from the low foothills and limestone cliffs in the east to the extensive peatland plateau between Big Dog and Ballintempo Forests in the west.
The site has a unique combination of geology, physiography, habitats, flora and fauna features. It has an unparalleled range of habitats and associated vegetation communities occurring in Northern Ireland including base-rich broad-leaved woodland, wet and dry acid heath and calcareous heath, blanket bog, fen-meadow, calcareous and mesotrophic grassland, petrifying springs, flushes both acid and alkaline, natural dystrophic, mesotrophic and eutrophic open water bodies with accompanying aquatic macrophyte communities, swamp and poor acid fen. Such diversity results in the presence of a large number of rare and notable higher plants, lichens, fungi and invertebrates.
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