The Project:
Plants and Animals of Priority Woodlands
These are some of the plants and animals that live in priority woodlands.
Mountain everlasting grows on the shallow soils of limestone rock
Holly with its bright red berries
Wild thyme on limestone pavement
Fungi are an important component of a healthy woodland habitat
The uncommon scarlet elf cup fungi
The wall lettuce grows in between rock crevices of limestone pavement
Lichens and mosses form a carpet of colour and texture within the bog woodland of Site 8, Aghnaguig
A chaffinch feeds its young - one of the most common birds of Irish woodland
The blue tit nests in a hole in a decaying branch or tree
The goldcrest slings its nest under the stems of ivy
The robin looks for insects and worms on the woodland floor
The sedge warbler feeds it young at the wet woodland edge
The treecreeper hides its nest behind loose bark
The willow warbler makes a well-hidden nest on the forest floor
The water rail - a cousin of the much rarer corncrake is found at Site 1, Clonbur - at the edge of the woodland
The cryptic colouring of the woodcock makes it difficult to see at the nest site
The brimstone butterfly frequents woodland and scrub with buckthorn trees- its only food plant
The peacock butterfly frequents the woodland edges, rides and pathways
Bearberry - an evergreen shrub in open rocky scrub woodland at Site 7, Castletaylor
Bracket fungi on decaying birch in bog woodland
Burnet rose on limestone pavement scrub
The early purple orchid adds colour to the woodland floor in spring
The great fen sedge or 'saw sedge' grows at the wet woodland edge at Site 1, Clonbur
The primrose is an indicator of 'old woodland'
Purging buckthorn - the food plant of the brimstone butterfly
Mountain avens - a rare plant of limestone pavement
Juniper grows in its prostrate form over limestone pavement at Site 7, Castletaylor
The rare bird's nest orchid
Wild violets - one the earliest woodland flowers
The delicate red berry of the native yew tree
The early flowering wood anemone
