Peatlands Park is a 266 hectares area established in 1990 and placed under the safeguard of the
Northern Ireland Environment Agency
The Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) is an executive agency within the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). It is responsible for conservation of Northern Ireland's environment and natural heritage.
Origi ...
.
It is located in
County Armagh
County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, and has been designated as an
Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI).
Peatlands Park is home to a particularly rich sample of the
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...
and
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...
found in
peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficient ...
bogs, and proposes 16 km (10 mi) of paths to its visitors.
The park holds two natural reserves predating the park itself, Annagarriff (77 ha) and Mullenakill (22ha), established in 1980.
Of the two, Annagarriff is thought to be home to the only colony of
Scottish wood ants in Ireland.
It also holds a
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
railway established in 1901 and displays an outdoor turf cutting site.
The park is also used as a venue for bog snorkelling.
References
External links
{{Protected-area-stub
Nature reserves in Northern Ireland