Garron Plateau RAMSAR

Garron Plateau is situated in County Antrim in the north-east of Northern Ireland. The Garron Plateau is the largest area of intact 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 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 Ramsar site boundary is entirely coincident with both that of the Garron Plateau Area of Special Scientific Interest and the Garron Plateau Special Area of Conservation. The site qualifies under criterion 1a of the Ramsar Convention by being a particularly good representative example of a wetland complex including blanket bog base-rich flushes and upland lakes. It is the most extensive area of intact upland blanket bog in Northern Ireland and represents one of the best examples of this habitat in the UK.

The blanket bog exhibits a number of notable features such as extensive areas with hummock and lawn, well developed pool complexes, areas of quaking bogs, saddle mires and areas of eroding peat. Bog vegetation is characterised by Sphagnum mosses notably Sphagnum austinii and Sphagnum fuscum. Vegetation on deeper waterlogged peat is characterised by the prominence of Cross-leaved heath, Bog Asphodel and Cotton-grass. On the more freely draining slopes heather, crowberry, and hare's tail cotton-grass are dominant.

The area has well developed flushes characterised by black bog rush, sedges - Carex spp and brown mosses such as Drepanocladus spp and Calliergon spp. 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 water lily with white water-lily or by an association in which water lobelia is prominent. Loughnatrosk is a mid altitude lake which 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 also qualifies under criterion 2a of the Ramsar Convention by supporting an appreciable assemblage of rare, vulnerable or endangered species. Rare vascular plants included in the Irish Red Data Book species: narrow-leaved marsh-orchid, bog orchid, marsh saxifrage, few-flowered sedge, tall bog-sedge and opposite-leaved pondweed.

Irish Red Data Book bird species associated with the blanket bog include breeding red grouse, golden plover, dunlin, merlin and hen harrier.
The site also supports a wide variety of scarce insect species including the rare ground beetle Bembidion geniculatum, which is recorded for only one other location in Ireland. Other insects of note include the Large Heath Butterfly and aquatic invertebrates such as water beetles and the water boatman.