Fens - Campaign Factfile

Below you will find background information on fens in Ireland to support IPCC's 2000 Fen Campaign.

When you have learned more about these habitats, why they are important and the rich wildlidfe they contain - and would like to support our campaign to see more of the fenlands and their wildlife protected - you can support the campaign further here.

Status of Fens in Ireland
The original area of fens in Ireland was 92,000ha. 58% of this area has been lost to agricultural reclamation. The IPCC's Peatland Conservation Plan 2000, lists 242 fens of European conservation value for Ireland, but of these only 71 are 100ha or more in size. The large ones are mostly on lake or river edges, and are examples of open-water transition fens or flood plain fens. The smaller sites are valley and basin fens. Fens are listed in the European Habitats Directive for conservation. Ireland is obliged to include a representative sample of fen habitats in its list of Special Areas of Conservation (SAC's) under the Directive. The Irish Government declared on;y six SAC's containing fen vegetation in its submissions to the European Union during 1999, a gross under-representation of the resource in Ireland. All of the sites were topogenous fen types. No soligenous fen types were put forward in the list of SAC's. At the Atlantic Biogeographical Meeting held in Ireland in September 1999, the European Commission and the Nature Topic Centre advised the Irish Government to put forward more fen type peatlands in its network of SAC's. This must be done by October 2000. IPCC will be campaigning to increase the number of fen SAC's during the year as part of the Fen Campaign.

Conservation of Fens
Only two fens are nature reserves in the Republic of Ireland. These are Pollardstown Fen, Co. Kildare and Scragh Bog in Co. Westmeath. About twelve are nature reserves in Northern Ireland, many in the large wetland complexes around Lough Erne and Lough Neagh.

The following fen sites are under the protection of private individuals, organisation and state agencies in Ireland:

Republic of Ireland
Bellacorrick Iron Flush, Co. Mayo 30ha
Boley Island, Co. Wexford 22ha
Buckroney Marsh, Co. Wicklow 13ha
Cabragh Wetlands, Co. Tipperary 40ha
Cranberry Lough/Cloonboley, Co. Roscommon 36ha
Fenor Bog, Co. Waterford 13ha
Fin Lough, Co. Offaly 100ha
Kilcolman Fen, Co. Cork 52ha
Newpark Marsh, Co. Kilkenny 10ha
Pollardstown Fen, Co. Kildare 152ha
Scragh Bog, Co. Westmeath 16ha
Sheskinmore, Co. Donegal 263ha

Northern Ireland
Brackagh Bog, Co. Armagh 134ha
Castlecaldwell, Co. Fermanagh 7ha
Castlecoole, Co. Fermanagh 160ha
Colebrook Estuary (Upper Lough Erne), Co. Fermanagh 245ha
Cornagague Wood and Lough, Co. Fermanagh 3ha
Crom (Upper Lough Erne), Co. Fermanagh 688ha
Derryleckagh, Co. Down 50ha
Glenariff Lakes, Co. Antrim 12ha
Hollymount, Co. Down 15ha
Kiltubbrid Loughs, Co. Armagh 24ha
Knockmany, Co. Tyrone 31ha
Lackan Bog, Co. Down 88ha
Lough Beg, Co. Derry/Antrim 1125ha
Lough Neagh Farrs Bay, Co. Armagh 6ha
Lough Neagh Rea's Wood, Co. Armagh 27ha
Loughkeelan, Co. Down 11ha
Naan Island (Upper Lough Erne), Co. Fermanagh 5ha
Ross Lough (Upper Lough Erne), Co. Fermanagh 101ha
Strand Lough, Co. Down 23ha
Upper Lough Erne, Co. Fermanagh 1350ha

Further Information
The natural history of flood plain fens is extensively described in the following books.

Heery, S. (1993) The Shannon Floodlands, A Natural History. Tír Eolas, Kinvarra. 166pp.

Tubridy, M. (ed.) (1987) The Heritage of Clonmacnoise. Environmental Sciences Unit, Trinity College Dublin and County Offaly Vocational Educational Committee. 136pp.

More information . . . . .

Types of fens and how they formed

Fen habitats, vegetation, flora and fauna and rare species

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