Cloonee and Inchiquin Loughs, Uragh Wood is the name of a

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectiv ...

site in a valley in

Tuosist Tuosist () is a small village and civil parish in the far south of County Kerry, Ireland. It shares the Béara Peninsula with the neighbouring parishes of County Cork, and the Caha Mountains form the county border. The nearest town is Kenma ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Habitats include lowland

oligotrophic An oligotroph is an organism that can live in an environment that offers very low levels of nutrients. They may be contrasted with copiotrophs, which prefer nutritionally rich environments. Oligotrophs are characterized by slow growth, low rates o ...

lakes (

lough ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or " sea inlet" in Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes called a lochan. Lochs whic ...

s) and oceanic oak woodland. Uragh Wood has been protected as a nature reserve since 1982. 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 ap ...

has since been designated which protects the wood, lakes and the surrounding area. The main lakes in the area are the Salt Lake, Lower Cloonee Lough, Middle Cloonee Lough, Upper Cloonee Lough (the Cloonee Loughs) and the Gleninchaquin Lake. This is one of the areas in which the rare

Kerry slug The Kerry slug or Kerry spotted slug (''Geomalacus maculosus'') is a species of terrestrial, pulmonate, gastropod mollusc. It is a medium-to-large sized, air-breathing land slug in the Family (biology), family of roundback slugs, Arionidae. Ad ...

and the

lesser horseshoe bat The lesser horseshoe bat (''Rhinolophus hipposideros'') is a type of small European and North African insectivorous bat, related to its larger cousin, the greater horseshoe bat. As with all horseshoe bats, the species gets its name from its dist ...

are known to occur.

References

{{coord, 51, 48, 59, N, 9, 42, 29, W, display=title Lakes of County Kerry Protected areas of County Kerry Special Areas of Conservation in the Republic of Ireland