Sunday saw the sun up early and the prospects for a good day, so I prepared for one of my regular trips to the Burren, a mere forty minutes drive from here. For those of you who are not familiar with this area, the Burren is made up of limestone pavement and outcrops, covering 450 sq. km in north Co. Clare and southeastern Galway in the west of Ireland. It has a unique association of boreal, alpine and Mediterranean plants growing side by side, and has long been a place of pilgrimage for the entomologist, botanists, and alpine enthusiasts. For the entomologist there is the common small Blue Butterflies together with the Grayling, Wall, Dark Green Fritillary and the day flying Six Spot Burnet, Speckled Yellow, Mother Shipton, common Heath and Burnet companion moths which furnish considerable interest.
For the botanists and the alpine enthusiasts there is the unique association of a vast range of plants from different habitats growing side by side.
Others visit just for the breathtaking views of the Lunar-like landscape, the Aran Islands, and the Cliffs of Moher, which rise to over 213 Mts.
All the family was packed into the car including the dog, and we were soon browsing the limestone pavement. After the wet summer the plants were in good heart, and as usual we were almost knee deep in Bloody Cranesbill, Geranium Sanguineum, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Lotus Corniculatus, and some Ox-eye Daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare, were still in bloom. Thyme, Thymus polytrichus, was covering the rocky outcrops as well as intermingling with the Quaking Grass, Briza media.. The Golden-Rod, Solidago virgaurea, had mostly gone to seed but still managed to produce a few late flowers.
As I walked towards the cliff edge Sea Aster, Aster Tripolium,, was peeping from the cracks in the pavement. Thrift, Armeria Maritima, and Sea Campion , Silene Uniflora, were growing from every nook and cranny they could get a foothold . Scattered among these were plants of a Burren endemic Rock Sea Lavender, Limonium Recidurvum,subsp. Pseudotranswallianum. From holes in the rocks caused by years of erosion sprang plants of Sandwort ,Minuartia Verna, with only an odd scattering of flowers at this late stage. On my way back in an effort to explore the terraces on the other side of the road, I had to cross one of the many grykes, a quick peek revealed an nice batch of Maiden-hair fern, Asplenium trichomanes, and Heart's Tongue fern, Phyllitis scolopendrium.
