Gortnagory ASSI

The site is of special scientific interest due to its colony of nationally rare orchid, Irish lady's - tresses which occur here at its only high altitude site in Northern Ireland.

Gortnagory occupies 4.2 ha and lies just over 1 km from the east coast of County Antrim, 1.5 km north-north-west of Carnlough, on the south-eastern slopes of the Garron Plateau. The site is characterised by a series of basic flushes or small burns which run through the grassland site, and at its southern corner the ground is water-logged and marshy. The flushes and associated wet acid grassland are grazed under a mixed system of cattle and sheep and the low intensity nature of this management has resulted in vegetation which is generally quite rich in sedges and in places herbs. Over quite a large area, and generally associated with the flushed habitat, the rare species Irish Lady’s-tresses  Spiranthes romanzoffiana occurs.