Glencolmcille Landscape Wildflowers

Wild Flowers - by Jeroen Willemsen - visit his site for more information. Jeroen has kindly allowed his article on wildflower species in Glencolmcille to be replicated here.

Plant species of Gleann Cholm Cille
/ Glencolumbkille (Co. Donegal), Ireland

Recorded on 8 and 9 July 2010 by Jeroen Willemsen

Identification key:
M. Blamey, R. Fitter and A. Fitter: Wild flowers of Britain & Ireland, published by A&C Black, London, 2003

Wild Flowers - by Jeroen Willemsen - visit his site for more information.

During a cycle holiday in Ireland, we had the privilege to stay – more or less by coincidence– a couple of nights in the Dooey Hostel in Gleann Cholm Cille (Glencolumbkille, Glencolmcille - Co. Donegal) – see Google Map.

Now that is a place we would recommend everybody to go to. The hostel is truly miraculous and the views on the bay and its surroundings are downright spectacular. People are friendly, the pubs are superb and so is the hostel…

Well: just GO THERE! From the hostel we made two walks, on which we recorded 202 different wild plant species.

On 8 July 2010 we followed the path towards the ancient tower on the top of the cliffs north of the village. The walk started along the sandy beach of Glean Cholm Cille and then went up the hill by a steep ascent. A boggy landscape became visible, with lots of sheep everywhere. We found species of heaths and bogs there, like Anagallis tenella (see picture), Cirsium palustre, Drosera rotundifolia, Erica cinerea, Hypericum elodes, Myrica gale and millions of Narthecium ossifragum. Soon the path ended at the tower and offered a splendid view over the Atlantic Ocean and the Glen Bay.

We continued our route towards Port, a deserted village that once had been a busy harbour where people left for America in order to run away from the Great Famine. Nowadays the place is totally empty, except for a few tourists and some local fisherman. Boggy areas are abundant, and so are the species mentioned above.

The path took us back to the village of Gleann Cholm Cille, where the species were more typical for more or less human-influenced habitats, like Umbilicus rupestris, Sorbus aucuparia, Primula vulgaris, Lychnis flos-cuculi, Hypericum pulchrum, Claytonia perfoliata, Digitalis purpurea and Centranthus ruber. In a small stream we found Apium nodiflorum, Senecio aquaticus, Polygonum hydropiper and Mimulus guttatus.

On 9 July 2010 we stayed more in the direct area of the Glen Bay, looking for maritime plant species. We found several, like Armeria maritima (see picture), Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima, Silene uniflora, Honkenya peploides (see picture), Eryngium maritimum, Glaux maritima, Plantago maritima and Spergularia rupicola. On the rocks just above the salt spray Anthyllis vulneraria was very abundant. Also Cystopteris fragilis and Asplenium marinum could be found there.

A little more in the dunes, many orchids were present. They were all Anacamptis pyramidalis (see picture) but there were also several Dactylorhiza species. Further away from the sea, well past the salt spray area, the dunes were rich in (again) Anacamptis pyramidalis, Jasione montana, Odontites vernus and Centaurium erythraea. There were several deserted fields where once potatoes were grown.

In total we recorded 202 different plant species in the direct surroundings of Gleann Cholm Cille. The full list of the recorded species is as follows: