Slievenacloy Nature Reserve is an Ulster Wildlife reserve in Antrim. It is very well managed for upland grassland, with a wealth of Devil’s-Bit dominated grassland. I was there for the first time ever on the eleventh of August, and was very impressed by how rich and large the reserve is.
![](https://irishplants.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IMG-20230812-WA0001.jpg)
In one of the fields on the reserve I found a small, whitish mould growing on an Eyebright (IDed to Euphrasia arctica/confusa/nemorosa agg., but too old to ID to species). Since I have recently become interested in plant parasites I took a sample home. I identified it using the extremely useful resource bladmineerders.nl. I was surprised to discover it is a species never before recorded in Ireland, Plasmopara euphrasiae.
![](https://irishplants.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/PXL_20230813_1230212562-225x300.jpg)
There are old records of a related species, Plasmopara densa, from before the two species were split – since some of these were found on Eyebright, they can be redetermined as P. euphrasiae, but this is the first known record of this species in Ireland. (In fact as I was writing this I found one, from Braganstown, Louth, in 1895).
Many thanks to Chris Preston for inspiring and encouraging my interest in plant parasites and for verifying the ID.
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