11 MOUNTAIN LOG NEWS Fauna and f l ora Sunday started with a short tour of the monastic city with Joan Power from the OPW, followed by a display of photos from Saturday, then off to the Wicklow Gap for an ascent of Turlough Hill. After discussing the development and role of the pumped hydro power station and looking at rare clubmoss plants on the hill, we descended to the Glenealo valley. Our discussions again considered habitat condition, particularly the impact of the non-native Sika Deer. We saw bare peat vulnerable to being washed away, a lack of plant diversity and the absence of native trees, other than a lonely Mountain Ash protected between two granite boulders. The need to recognise deer as an invasive species and for concerted action to reduce Wicklow’s deer population was another key takeaway. Down in the Glendalough valley, archaeologist Graeme Warren provided a wider perspective on the valley as a post-industrial landscape, where treefelling had already commenced before the monastic site was established in the 6th century. We looked at the difference in the hillside that shows the contact between the granite and the mica schist. That contact is where minerals such as lead gathered when the molten granite rose up into the Pictured this page: A rare Stag’s-horn Clubmoss growing on Turlough Hill during the weekend. Photo: Helen Lawless
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