This project, mainly undertaken in the Summer of 2022, aims to systematically record plants in a group of islands around the townland of Ballymorran. Many of these have never been visited by botanists, and also have fragments of species-rich grassland that could be of local importance for plants and invertebrates.
Read my poster about the project for the November 2022 BSBI conference in London here.
Grid: J5360
This island is owned by the National Trust and is accessible to the public. It boasts one of the richest grasslands in this part of Down. Before 2016 there were 66 botanical records, and more recently I have recorded 35 plant species here. The rare Marsh Fritillary butterfly was recorded here in 1985, and its foodplant Succisa pratensis is abundant in a small area of the northern drumlin.
Grid: J5461
This island is owned by the National Trust and is accessible to the public. It has lots of geese.
Grid: J5460, J5461
This island is NOT open to the public (privately-owned). It is dominated by species-poor grassland but the steeper slopes have some very rich Knapweed-dominated grassland (MG1e Arrhenatherum elatius grassland Centaurea nigra sub-community).