National Parks
Rich havens of unspoilt beauty, Ireland’s national parks are a magnet for nature lovers, walkers, photographers or those simply seeking a little peace in an ever-maddening world.
Glenveagh, County Donegal
Ireland has six national parks, covering a collective area of 650km2, and five of these are threaded along the Wild Atlantic Way. While every national park is dedicated to preserving a safe and beautiful environment for Ireland’s wildlife and plant life, each one has its own very distinct character, offering a very different experience at every turn.
From the Irish phrase Gleann Bheatha, meaning ‘glen of the birches’, this 16,000-acre park of mountains, lakes, glens, cliffs, peat bogs and woods sprawls above 19th Century Glenveagh Castle and the shores of Lough Veagh. The estate is home to a network of some of the most celebrated gardens in Ireland, bursting with an array of exotic and delicate plants and flowers from far-flung corners of the world. It is no surprise that Glenveagh won the National Heritage Award at this year’s CIE Tours International Awards of Excellence.
Ballycroy National Park, County Mayo
A vast, uninhabited wilderness of blanket bog and mountain, dominated by the Nephin Beg mountain range, Ballycroy is home to one of the last intact active peatland systems in Ireland.
The youngest of Ireland’s national parks, consecrated in 1998, Ballycroy is a unique environment with a diverse array of flora and fauna. Greenland white-fronted geese, golden plover, red grouse and otters are just some of the important animals found in the park.
One of the most romantic locations in Ireland, Connemara is a rugged, rocky wilderness of scenic mountains, bog expanses, heaths, woods and grasslands. Centred around one of the most photographed buildings in Ireland, the exquisite Kylemore Abbey, the park is also the site of megalithic tombs, more than 4,000 years old, as well as a mysterious graveyard.
Once owned by one of the founders of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the park is home to a diverse array of birdlife and wildlife, including the famous Connemara Pony.
An extraordinary, otherworldly landscape of cracked limestone, chalky grassland, hazel scrub and ash and hazel woodland, The Burren is home to plant life found nowhere else on Ireland; as well as archaeological sites and monuments that are older than Egypt’s pyramids.
This is where Arctic-alpine and
Mediterranean plants live side by side, while woodland plants inhabit open plains. Mysterious dolmens, tombs and almost 500 ring forts made of stone and earth. Not to be missed in the summer, when pockets of landscape explode in riots of colour.
Killarney National Park is the jewel in southwest Ireland’s crown. According to the Irish Times, this stunning area has something to appeal to everyone: From adventure junkies, who can take their pick of climbing, hiking, canyoning and kayaking, to nature enthusiasts who will be thrilled by Ireland’s last herd of native red deer, the Japanese sika deer and Killarney’s wide range of bird species; to history buffs who can stalk the halls of Ross Castle and Muckross House to their hearts’ content, and families who can loosen their spirits on the pony-and-trap rides and boat trips.
The sixth national park is in Wicklow, situated in the beautiful
Ancient East. Too beautiful too omit, we must give it an mention!
Connemara, County Galway
The Burren, County Clare Killarney National Park, County Kerry Wicklow Mountains National Park, Co. Wicklow
Wicklow Mountains National Park was established in 1991 to conserve the flora, fauna and scenery of the Wicklow uplands. The Wicklow Mountains are also a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA) under EU law. The National Park has 20,000 hectares of upland habitats, each with their range of plant and animal species. Notable areas include the Liffey Head Bog, a very good example of an active growing mountain blanket bog. Native deciduous oak woodland is found in the valley of Glendalough, and native Scot’s pine woodland at Coronation Plantation and also at Glendalough. Deep mountain lakes and upland rocky streams occur throughout the park. For information on all of Ireland’s national parks, what you’ll find and how to get there, take a look at: www.npws.ie.