Lurgan River Wood ASSI

Lurgan River Wood is a special place because it includes both a range of woodland types and wet grasslands. It is centred around the steep sided valley of the Lurgan River and there are natural transitions from woodland through to grassland. As a result, it is particularly rich in both woodland and grassland plants and animals.

Both the woodland and the grassland species that live in Lurgan River Wood are very variable, reflecting past and present management practices and different environmental conditions, particularly the slope and the soils. Downy Birch and Goat Willow form an open canopy in the base-rich woodland. Other trees include Sessile oak and Scots pine in the more acidic upper reaches of the valley.

The scrub layer consists of hazel, hawthorn and holly, with rowan also present higher up. The field layer consists of a mixture of ferns, notably Hay-scented Buckler-fern, thickets of bramble, and where conditions are more acidic, bilberry. Where the soils are richer at ground level species such as Wood-sorrel, primrose, herb-Robert, common dog-violet and wood avens are common. Great wood-rush and mosses dominate the more acidic areas.

Wet grassland of the type known as fen meadow is associated with the drumlin to the east, and the lower slopes of the hill to the west. This is very species rich with rushes, sedges, grasses and herbs. A small population of the rare green-flowered Helleborine occurs at the southern extreme of Lurgan River Wood. This protected species has only been recorded in a handful of sites in Northern Ireland, and is generally found near streams in the darkest areas of a wood.