Benbulbin SAC
Benbulbin is a Natura2000 site and is designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The Special Area of Conservation includes Benbulbin, Gleniff and Glenade Complex. Special Areas of Conservation are designated under the Habitats Directive, based on the presence of habitat types and/or species which are rare or threatened within the European context.
Benbulbin, Gleniff and Glenade Complex Special Conservation Area (SAC) is located between Sligo and Leitrim, the area of the SAC measures 5981.241612 hectares. Benbulbin towers over Drumcliffe village in County Sligo, the flat-topped mountain features glacial tracks, wild gullies, babbling streams and contans fossils of sea creatures such as brachiopods, caniniid corals and bryozoan.
The area was designated as an SAC due to the presence of a variety of species such as Geyer’s Whorl Snail (Vertigo geyeri), Otter (Lutra lutra), Northern Atlantic Wet Heaths with Erica tetralix, European dry heaths, Alpine and Boreal heaths, Juniperus communis formations on heaths or calcareous grasslands and petrifying springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion).
Swipe below to see the amazing sights Fergal saw when he hiked Benbulbin in December!
Sources: National Parks & Wildlife Service, Discover Ireland, Ordnance Survey Ireland.