Garron Plateau ASSI

The Garron Plateau is the largest area of blanket bog in Northern Ireland. The peatland complex is comprised of a series of raised and flushed peat bog units, and a number of oligotrophic (a body of water in which nutrients are in low supply) water bodies, all within the enveloping blanket bog peat mantle.

The peatland supports an array of associated floral and faunal communities, including a number of rare and notable plant and animal species, and a diverse upland breeding bird population.

The blanket bog exhibits a number of notable features such as large well developed hummock and lawn complexes, pool complexes and eroding hagg complexes, in addition to quaking bogs and saddle mires. Bog vegetation is categorised by Sphagnum mosses notably Sphagnum imbricatum and Sphagnum fuscum. Flat waterlogged ground is characterised by the prominence of cross - leaved heath, bog asphodel and common cotton grass. On the more freely draining slopes heather, black crowberry, and hare's - tail cotton grass are common.

The site is rich in rare and notable plants including; narrow-leaved marsh-orchid, bog orchid, marsh saxifrage, few-flowered sedge, both bog-sedge and tall bog-sedge, parsley fern, oak fern, beech fern, and Alpine clubmoss.

Several types of upland and base poor lakes occur on the plateau. The most common lake types are characterised either by the association of yellow waterlily with white water-lily, or by an association in which water lobelia is prominent.

Loughnatrosk is a mid altitude lake distinguished by an association of water lobelia growing with the aquatic moss Fontinalis antipyretica and contains the rare opposite-leaved pondweed. The marginal lake vegetation around most of the lakes tends to be sparse, consisting of a scattered swamp and poor acid fen fringe.

The site supports a wide variety of insects including the rare ground beetle Bembidion geniculatum, which is recorded for only one other location in Ireland. Notable water beetles include the northern boreal species Hydroporus morio, Stictotarsus griseostriatus, Aqabus arcticus and Dytiscus lapponicus. The local aquatic bug Glaenocorisa propinqua also occurs at several sites. Other insects of note include the large heath butterfly.

A large breeding population of red grouse is found on the plateau, along with a few pairs of golden plover and dunlin, while common sandpiper are frequently found on the site in the summer. The plateau also provides good hunting ground for Merlin, Peregrine falcon and to a lesser degree buzzard and hen harrier, while ravens are frequently found scavenging on carrion.