Long Mountain Ridge 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 less than 1.5% of the land cover, a very low percentage even in comparison with the Northern Ireland average (c. 5%)
- broadleaved and conifer woodland each comprise about half the woodland total
- native broadleaved woodland scarce and confined largely to small patches of hazel-oak on rocky outcrops
- planted broadleaved/mixed woodland in part of Portglenone Forest and in a few estates
- Grassland covers c.77% of the LCA and almost nine-tenths of this is improved pasture of generally low biodiversity
- extensive blanket bog, especially in the north; much has been cut-over, drained, reclaimed or afforested, but some relatively large intact areas of national and international significance. Threat from continued extraction is high.
Woodlands
Woodlands account for less than 1.5% of the land cover, a very low percentage even in comparison with the Northern Ireland average (c. 5%); broadleaved and mixed woodland accounts for about half of the woodland area. The largest area of woodland is Craigs Wood, a State Forest in which Sitka spruce dominates but with significant areas of lodgepole pine and Japanese larch. The biodiversity is generally low, much lower than the blanket peatland that it has replaced. Two parts of Portglenone Forest are included within the LCA; both are on former estate land that was planted by the1830s (parts of the woods therefore are at least long-established) and consist of both broadleaves - particularly beech with sycamore and oak, and alder and willow in damp pockets - and conifers, including Norway spruce, Scots pine and larch.
Small broadleaved woodlands associated with rocky outcrops occur in the north of the LCA. On the west slopes of Lough Rock, oak/hazel scrub, in which most trees are multi-stemmed, has a varied herb flora that includes wood sorrel, sanicle, wood anemone, bluebell and common dog violet. The rare intermediate wintergreen is also recorded. Similar oak/hazel scrub occurs on the west side of Rabbit Rock.
Moneyglass House has a large parkland (lowland woodland pasture and parkland) with extensive planting of broadleaves that pre-dates 1833. The avenue is of chestnut and there is a row of walnut, but much of the planting is of beech, oak, larch and Scots pine. However, there is abundant ash and some woodland with hazel, birch and willow that suggests a more semi-natural origin. Planting at Glebe House, of around 1830, is mixed broadleaves and conifers - including beech, larch, Scots pine, ash, oak, sycamore - and there is also an arboretum.
At Tamnaghmore, a central mature woodland with much ash is surrounded by modern planting; some of this is of conifers but there is extensive broadleaved/mixed planting.
Grassland and Arable
Grassland covers c.77% of the LCA and almost nine-tenths of this is improved pasture. Except for small pockets of damp grassland along streams and between drumlins, rough grassland is confined to cut-over peatlands; in the north on the uplands between Caldanagh and McKeowns Hill, and in the south around Chesney's Corner. Rough grassland is frequently intermixed with patches of heath and remnant bog. Some is rush dominated whereas other parts are a mosaic of common heather and purple moor grass with stands of common bent and wavy hair grass. These rough grasslands, together with intermixed cover types, provide habitats for waders, including curlew, and for Irish hare.
Improved pastures generally have low biodiversity as a result of relatively intensive management. Some of the pastures are sown grasslands dominated by ryegrass and few other species - low biodiversity is in-built. Other grasslands have been converted to improved pastures through management. High levels of grazing or repeated cutting for silage, high inputs of fertilizers and slurry, and selective herbicides serve to reduce diversity of both flora and fauna.
Arable land (includes grass re-seeding) accounts for c.9% of the land cover; this compares with the Northern Ireland average of around 6%. Apart from the higher land with its peatland and forestry, arable land is scattered throughout the LCA with no spatial concentrations.
Although pastures and arable dominate the land cover of the LCA and have a low biodiversity, there are records of many of the Priority Species of farmland birds, including yellowhammer. The generally well-maintained hedgerows in the LCA are important contributors to biodiversity in improved grasslands and arable land providing a refuge for many woodland and farmland plants and animals.
Heaths and Bogs
In the north of the LCA blanket bog is extensive and although much has been cut-over, reclaimed for grazing or afforested, there are some intact areas remaining. However, as altitude declines southward, classification into blanket or lowland bog becomes more difficult.
To the north of Craigs Wood only small fragments of intact blanket bog remain; cut-over bog is extensive and there is a considerable amount of active and recent machine cutting. To the southeast of the wood intact blanket bog is more extensive, although threatened by machine cutting. Common heather dominates with hare's tail cotton sedge and a generally high ground cover of bog mosses (Sphagnum species). There are also hummocks, some of the higher ones with the lichen Cladonia impexa, and uncommon plants include the black bog-rush.
Whereas White Hill bog is cut over and has active cutting with areas of bare peat, Saugh Island Bog has intact bog. However, Saugh Island is difficult to classify because it lies at intermediate altitude (c.150m); soundings suggest that it is a raised bog formed over a basin (peat of over 7m depth) within a general area of blanket bog. The least disturbed part lies in the northwest where the vegetation is of common heather, cross-leaved heath, deer sedge and cotton sedges and the cover of bog mosses is high. There is also a good micro-topography of hummocks (some with the rare Sphagnum fuscum) and hollows, some of which are pools. Despite drainage of the western part and active and recent cutting around the margins, the site represents a good example of a raised bog over a basin with diversity of structural and micro-topographical features, and of habitats and species. The (possibly) lowland raised bogs at Casheltown, Ballybollen and Groggan are similarly affected by past and recent cutting, although Ballybollen has some intact remaining.
The peatlands of Long Mountain have one of the concentrations of machine peat cutting in Northern Ireland, as well as some hand cutting. This poses a severe threat to local biodiversity and to internationally important habitats - Northern Ireland has a significant proportion of Europe's peatlands. Machine cutting leaves areas of bare peat that only slowly become colonised; cotton sedge and deer sedge are often dominant with the bog mosses only re-establishing after many years. Repeated cutting of the same site, as occurs in several parts of this LCA, means of course that there is no recovery.
Heath in the LCA has developed mainly in areas of cut-over or drained bog or where thin peat has extended from basins over a rock outcrop. The latter situation can be seen at Rabbit Rock where a rock ridge extends between two blanket bog areas; the undulating ridge is mostly grassy, but parts are dominated by bell heather with common heather less frequent.
Wetlands and Lakes
Patches of fen in this LCA are generally small and associated with small ponds or loughs. The two small loughs at The Rock have bottle sedge and soft rush and these species intermittently dominate the fringe of Lough Naroon. The only lake to be surveyed by the NI Lake Survey was Artoges Dam, which was classified as a low priority type. A fen was noted as present. It is likely that the other small loughs, being within peatland, will have low levels of nutrients but their status for biodiversity requires investigation.
None of the rivers have records of Priority Species, but it should be noted that they feed into major rivers that have both Priority Species and are salmonid rivers.
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 woodland cover of variable biodiversity value
Actions:
- enhance the biodiversity value of demesne/parkland woodland through control of grazing and felling; by encouraging planting of saplings of the standard trees; by preventing further loss of parkland; by retention of fallen and veteran trees (particularly for bryophytes, ferns, fungi and fauna)
- further study of the history and ecology of demesne and other broadleaved woodlands particularly any ancient and long-established, as a key to future management
- encourage planting of broadleaved woodlands through appropriate grant schemes, rather than the small conifer plantations which are of poor biodiversity and landscape value.
GRASSLAND AND ARABLE
Issue: poor biodiversity of farmland
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
- leave stubble over winter, rather than autumn ploughing, to increase food resources for farmland birds; spring sown cereals are beneficial to breeding farmland birds.
HEATH AND BOGS
Issue: raised bogs/blanket bogs are of national and international importance; this LCA contains some good examples of diverse peat bog habitats
Actions:
- maintain the integrity of existing lowland raised bogs by for example, preventing infilling, fly-tipping, fires, new drainage and new peat cutting
- consider restoration of raised bog habitats through appropriate water level management and phasing out peat cutting
- maintain the remaining intact blanket bog by preventing further drainage, extension of peat cutting, and fires and by removal of conifers colonising from adjacent forests
- consider restoration of blanket bog by damming drains and appropriate water level management
- prevent new forest planting on blanket bog
WETLANDS
Issue: small loughs and rivers of possible importance to biodiversity
Actions:
- protect water quality of lakes and rivers through nutrient management, thus
- promote and encourage existing good farming practices so that streams are not polluted by run-off from agricultural land or seepage from silage pits
- monitor, and reduce if necessary, suspended sediments in rivers that come from peat cutting, noting that this may affect biodiversity in rivers in adjacent LCAs
- monitor streams in relation to expansion of rural housing and associated septic tanks
- consider further survey of small loughs and rivers to establish importance for biodiversity
