Equisetum variegatum in Donegal EastAuthor(s): M. J. P. ScannellSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Apr., 1977), pp. 53-54Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25538034 .

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Ir. Nat. J. Vol. 19. No. 2. 1977 53

SORBUS RUPICOLA AND PRUNUS PADUS IN GLENVEAGH, CO. DONEGAL

Sorbus rupicola (Syme) Hedl.: H. C. Hart records Sorbus aria from "amongst mountain thickets at Glen

veagh" (H35) in both Flora of Donegal (1898 p. 150) and Journal of Botany (1881, 19: 234). The following herbaria have been searched for the voucher specimen but without success: British Museum (Natural History), National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, and Trinity College, Dublin. The record is not given in the Critical Supple ment to the British Flora (1968). With the exception of one station in the base-rich Benevenagh range in Co. Deny (Steward & Corry 1888) the most northerly station for the species aggregate is in Co. Sligo. One specimen of Sorbus rupicola has now been found overhanging the main lake in Glenveagh (C 0321), rooted in granite, quite in contrast to the other northerly stations. Although there appears to be but this one specimen, it is healthy, has a lower trunk diameter of 25 cm, and flowered and fruited well last year. It is possible that the parents of this specimen grew in parts of the woodland close by now heavily invaded by rhododendron, and that its present

position of light and freedom from grazing has allowed it to survive. S. rupicola is distinguished from its allies by its obovate or oblanceolate

leaves, which are rounded at the apex and entire or nearly so in their basal half or third. The fruit is broader than long, and has numerous, scattered, moderate and small lenticels. The Glenveagh specimen lias been confirmed by the referee for the genus, P. Nethercott, and is lodged in the Trinity College herbarium. Prunus padus L.:

P. padus was given by Hart in Flora of Donegal (1898, p. 143) as "abundant" in one valley in Glenveagh, but it remains unrecorded in NW Ireland post 1930.

There are still, however, a number of specimens on the slopes of a steep sided tributary valley running into the main glen (C 0018), but today they could hardly be called abundant. All unshaded specimens flowered profusely last year. A specimen is lodged in the Trinity College herbarium.

School of Botany, Trinity College, Dublin 2. M. B. TELFORD.

LIMOSELLA AQUATIC A L. AT THE GEARAGH, WEST CORK: AN ADDITION TO THE COUNTY FLORA

The Gearagh, once (Praegar, R. LI. 1907, Irish Field Club Union. Report of the Fifth Triennial Conference and Excursion held at Cork. 11-16 July 1907. Ir. Nat. 16: 253-262) "a unique and interesting place" of anastomising branches of the River Lee winding among heavily wooded islands, is about two miles west of Macroom, in west Cork. Unfortunately about 1955 it was flooded to form a reservoir. On a recent visit on 16 September 1976, it was easy to cross the whole area dryshod by the old road to Dunmanway, as the water-level was so abnormally low.

The area known locally as the Gearagh is about a mile across and a mile

both upstream and downstream from the old road just mentioned. There is now no trace of the wet woodland which corresponded with the alluvial forests of the continent (O'Reilly, H. 1955, Survey of the Gearagh, an area of wet woodland on the River Lee,

near Macroom, Co. Cork. Ir. Nat. J. 11: 279-286) which was unique in the British Isles. Mitchell (Mitchell, G. F. 1976, The Irish Landscape. Collins, London, plate 12) gives an excellent illustration of the former appearance of the Gearagh. The once-lovely area is

now a wilderness of gaunt black stumps, stretching from the old road as far as one could see both upstream and downstream and threaded by innumerable channels.

The finding of Limosella aquatica L. was quite fortuitous: an area immediately above the old road, and no doubt under water as a rule, held Lysimachia nummularia

and Potamogeton cf. natans and entwined with the Potamogeton was a tiny plant which

the sharp eyes of mv friend, Florence Donaldson, noticed. We identified it as Limosella st). and sent it to Miss Scannell who kindly determined it as Limosella aauatica L. in flower and told us it was new to Co. Cork. At her suggestion this note has been written.

Merseyside County Museums, Liverpool. NORA F. McMILLAN

EQUISETUM VARIEGATUM IN DONEGAL EAST A review of herbarium material in connection with the Fern Atlas now in

preparation by the Botanical Society of the British Isles revealed specimens of

Equisetum variegatum which had been collected in County Donegal. The species is not reported in the literature from either division of Donegal. The information on the herbarium sheet had been overlooked and had not been placed on record in either the

Irish Naturalist's Journal or the Census Catalogue.

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54 Ir. Nat. J. Vol. 19. No. 2. 1977

The July field meeting of the Irish Regional Branch BSBI was centred in 1970 in Donegal town. Wetlands in the south of the county were botanised, resulting in the finding of Equisetum variegatum in two localities. The material collected at Birra Lough constitutes the first record of the plant for Donegal East, H 34. The particulars are as follows:

Birra Lough (brackish), marsh on the north shore, 2i miles west of Ballintra, G 8868, H 34, 14 July, 1970. M. Scannell. Carricknahorna Lough, lake shore, 2\ miles SSE of Ballintra, G 9265, H 34, 18 July, 1970. M. Scannell.

The lake district to the west of Ballintra-?The Pullans?is rich in suitable habitats and may yield further stations for this and other species of Equisetum.

E. variegatum is known from 23 botanic divisions in Ireland. Distribution on the 10 km point map shows the plant to occur tr?ore frequently in the midlands, from

Dublin to Galway, with scattered distribution elsewhere. The construction of the canals from the Irish Sea to the Shannon, in the last century, facilitated the spread of the species.

Those present at the Donegal meeting included J. J. Brown, L. Garrad, J. S. Roberts, M. A. Roberts and J. White (Sec).

Herbarium, National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9. M. J. P. SCANNELL

REVIEWS

Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland, edited by Dr J. T. R. Sharrock. Published by the British Trust for Ornithology and the Irish Wildbird Conservancy, 1976. 477 pages, more than 250 distribution maps and 208 line drawing by 10 wildlife illustrators, bard covers. Price ?9.00 (plus ?1.50 for 12 transparent overlays of environmental factors).

This is the result of a five year survey of 229 bird species which breed or have bred in Britain and/or Ireland during the period 1968-1972.

The preparation of this fine book was the greatest co-operative effort ever under taken in the field by bird watchers in these islands audi perhaps anywhere in the world. It is the result of the combined research of ten to fifteen thousand observers, of whotm the vast

majority are amateur workers.

Strangely enough, Ireland was included only at the eleventh hour, because of a supposed lack of numbers of observers in Ireland away from ithe larger urban areas and the physical difficulty of covering more remote areas. As it was, every one of the 2,862 ten km squares in' Britain and Ireland was covered. In fact Ireland had better coverage than Soot land, chiefly because of the prodigious work by David Scott in Southern Ireland and Joe

Furjihy in Northern .Ireland, and the thanks of all Irish naturalists will go to these two workers. David Scott himself checked in excess of 400 ten km squares and covered some 32,000 miles in his task and Joe Furphy was equally unselfish and courageous, but with -the added burden of a day's work and the troubled times in the North of Ireland to be con sidered.

The distribution maps are the basis of the project with red dots of diminishing sizes to represent confirmed breeding, probable and possible breeding. Each map is accom

panied by a very full text on' the history, habitat preferences land former distribution of the species concerned together with a line drawing. The more one studies the maps the. more information and trends become evident, but ultimately their accuracy must be dependent on the ability of the /observers to identify correctly the different species, and I wonder how many in Britain have confused those two exacting species the marsh and willow tit or, in both

Britain and Ireland, mistaken the songs of the grasshopper warbler for the nightjar. There are in Ireland, examples of observer bias where there is excellent coverage for areas occupied by accurate ornithologists, while other (areas suffer from poor coverage, rather than lack of species. I approve fully of the device used -to defeat those persons who may use the distribution maps iof rare species illegally, though it is of little value to produce a centralised red dot in the Atlas for the black-necked grebe, while, in other works, four counties where this species breeds or has bred are named.

The maps show that the crown for the commonest species must be transferred from the chaffinch to the wren. It is interesting that the mandarin and wood ducks, Canada goose and several other feral species are given full map coverage as wild species though -the barnacle goose, which breeds freely in Sttrangford Lough in Co. Down, is not, while the feral popula tions of the grey lag goose are noted and accounted for. It is good to know that there are

more heronries in Ireland than in Britain, though the size of the colonies is generally

smaller. The text which accompanies each distribution map is exceptionally well written and

is rich with details of former distribution and factors that could account ibr changes which

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