Aghabrack ASSI

The Aghabrack area is of importance in understanding the recent glacial history of Northern Ireland. The landscape of this area has been defined by the action of water and ice that occurred towards the end of the last Ice Age, between 17,000 and 13,000 years ago.

The site displays the classic association between glacial landscape features and the post glacial accumulation of peat. Since the end of the ice age, peat has built up on the outwash deposits to form a raised bog. This habitat supports unique raised bog plant communities with vegetation such as bog mosses, heather and bog cotton. It is the build up of bog mosses that eventually form peat over thousands of years.

The landforms found at Aghabrack are fossil and once damaged or destroyed cannot be replaced since the processes that formed them are no longer active. The raised bog habitat at Aghabrack has taken many years to develop due to the complex vegetation communities present.