The Ballyhoura Mountains ( ga, An Sliabh Riabhach) are located in south-east

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province , subd ...

and north-east

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

in central

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...

, running east and west for about 6 miles on the borders of both counties.

Features

The southern part of the hills is largely afforested with

conifer Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All ext ...

s, on the northern side there is extensive

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

and

blanket bog Blanket bog or blanket mire, also known as featherbed bog, is an area of peatland, forming where there is a climate of high rainfall and a low level of evapotranspiration, allowing peat to develop not only in wet hollows but over large expanses o ...

. The mountains include Seefin (528m, 1702 ft), near Seefin on the northwest is Black Rock (516m, 1696 ft) and 3 miles to the west is Carron Mountain (c.440m, 1469 ft) on the boundary of Cork and Limerick. Immediately east of Seefin is Knockea (1311 ft), east of which again is the detached mountain of Knockeennamroanta (1319 ft). Between these is the pass of Barnaderg, now called Redchair, leading from the plain of Limerick to the plain of Cork. At the north side of the valley is the peak of Barnageeha (1196 ft). The Ballyhoura Mountains have been listed as a

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

. The blanket bog occurs in most of the flatter areas and features such species as heather (''

Calluna vulgaris ''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wid ...

''), with deergrass (''

Trichophorum cespitosum ''Trichophorum cespitosum'', commonly known as deergrass or tufted bulrush, is a species of flowering plant in the Cyperaceae, sedge family. It was originally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as ''Scirpus cespitosus'', bu ...

''), hare’s-tail cottongrass ('' Eriophorum vaginatum''), common cottongrass ('' Eriophorum angustifolium''), bilberry (''

Vaccinium myrtillus ''Vaccinium myrtillus'' or European blueberry is a holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry. It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whortle ...

'') and crowberry (''

Empetrum nigrum ''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but th ...

''). The wet heath is dominated by heather, cross-leaved heath (''

Erica tetralix ''Erica tetralix'', the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Eur ...

'') and bilberry accompanied by a range of mosses and liverworts. The dry heath is more species-rich, with bell heather ('' Erica cinerea''), green-ribbed sedge (''

Carex binervis ''Carex binervis'', the green-ribbed sedge, is a European species of sedge with an Atlantic distribution. It is found from Fennoscandia to the Iberian Peninsula, and occurs in heaths, moorland and other damp, acidic environments. It typically gro ...

''), tormentil (''

Potentilla erecta ''Potentilla erecta'' (syn. ''Tormentilla erecta'', ''Potentilla laeta'', ''Potentilla tormentilla'', known as the (common) tormentil, septfoil or erect cinquefoil ) is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the rose family (Rosaceae). Descr ...

''), bent grasses (''

Agrostis ''Agrostis'' (bent or bentgrass) is a large and very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family, found in nearly all the countries in the world. It has been bred as a GMO creeping bent grass. Species * '' Agrostis aequivalvi'' ...

'' spp.) and mosses such as ''

Hypnum jutlandicum ''Hypnum jutlandicum'' is a species of moss belonging to the family Hypnaceae Hypnaceae is a large family of moss with broad worldwide occurrence in the class Bryopsida, subclass Bryidae and order Hypnales. Genera include '' Hypnum'', '' Phyll ...

''. The Ballyhoura Mountain Bike Park situated near under Seefin and Blackrock is the largest Trail network of its kind in Ireland. The trails range from the moderate 6 kilometre Greenwood loop to the demanding 50 kilometre Castlepook loop. The nearest towns and villages to the Trailhead are Ardpatrick, Glenosheen, Ballyorgan and Kilfinnane.

References

External links

Coillte Mountain Bike Trail

Ballyhoura Bears Walking Club
{{Authority control Mountains and hills of County Limerick Mountains and hills of County Cork

Features

See also

References

External links