Mayo Gems: Put Ballycroy National Park on your wish list
WITH the Covid-19 restrictions continuing, the Mayo Gems series by Tom Gillespie focuses on locations in Mayo – some well known, others more 'hidden' - where, hopefully, readers can visit post coronavirus. This week Tom takes us to the national park in Ballycroy.
WHILE closed to the public, except to those within the designated travel distance, as dictated by Covid-19 regulations, Ballycroy National Park should be on everyone’s wish list when the crisis is over.
I had the pleasure of visiting the centre and took part in a guided walk around portion of the 11,000 hectares of Atlantic blanket bog and mountainous terrain, covering a vast uninhabited and unspoilt wilderness dominated by the Nephin Beg mountain range.
The national park was established in November 1998 and is Ireland’s sixth and youngest national park.
It offers panoramic views of Ballycroy, features an interactive exhibition, an information desk, tearooms and a nature trail with viewing points.
I joined head guide Brid Culhoun and other visitors for the one-hour tour on the 1.5 km trail. It was interesting, informative, entertaining, and most of all it was free.
The trail started with an examination of the insect and marine life in a bog dipping pool and we were shown the vast variety of flora and fauna that exists in the bogland.
The bog pools are an important habitat for much of the invertebrate life in the park. The predatory larval stages of dragonflies and damselflies feed on waterborne insects before metamorphosing into winged adult dragonflies and damselflies.
These colourful and distinctive insects are good indicators of the diversity of the park’s ecosystem.
Species found include moorland hawker, heathland skimmer, four-spotted chaser, common darter, black darter, banded jewelwing, common bluet, common bluetip, spring redtail and common spreadwing. The adult dragonflies and damselflies prey on other insects.
Some species eventually lay their eggs directly into stems of vegetation in bog pools, while others scatter their eggs over the water.
The national park supports a variety of bird species, including dippers, common sandpipers, woodcock, dunlin, skylarks, meadow pipits, ravens, hooded crows and whooper swans.
Birds of prey found include kestrels and sparrowhawks while rare species such as merlin and peregrine falcon are also resident. Hen harriers are winter visitors. Red grouse are resident in the park and rely on a mix of different heights of heather. High heather provides cover from predators while young shoots are necessary for the chicks to feed on. Rarer species utilise the area either as winter feeding grounds or as summer breeding grounds. Greenland White-fronted Geese are winter visitors from Greenland and are present in the park from October until April. They feed on the roots of bog cotton and white-beaked sedge found on quaking bog.
Golden Plover, the logo of the national park, are common winter visitors to Ireland but only a small population breed in the summer on the upland areas of the west of Ireland including Ballycroy National Park.
Prior to their purchase by the State, the National Park lands were used for turbary, agriculture and recreational uses including fishing, shooting, and hillwalking.