The Discovery of Lotus subbiflorus Lag. in South-East IrelandAuthor(s): Rosemary FitzGeraldSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 24, No. 6 (Apr., 1993), pp. 240-242Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25539815 .

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240 Ir. Nat. J. Vol. 25 No. 6 1993

In conclusion I would suggest that the study area described here has a very good otter

population with no evidence of decline.

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Dr D. P. Sleeman who made helpful suggestions on an earlier draft and to Dr J. O'Halloran who drew the map.

REFERENCES

Bang, P. & Dahlstrom, P. (1974) Collins guide to animal tracks and signs. Collins, Glasgow. Chapman, P. J. & Chapman, L. L. (1982) Otter survey of Ireland, 1980-81. Vincent Wildlife Trust, London.

Corbet, G. B. & Southern, H. N. (1977) The handbook of British mammals. 2nd edition. .Blackwell, Oxford.

Fairley, J. (1984) An Irish beast book. 2nd edition. Blackstaff Press, Belfast.

Gormally, M. J., McFadden, Y. M. T. & Fairley, J. S. (1983) Notes on otter sprainting sites. Ir. Nat. J. 21:22-24.

Kruuk, H. & Balharry, D. (1990) Effects of sea water on thermal insulation of the otter, Lutra lutra. J. Zool., Lond. 220: 405-415.

Mason, C. F. & O'Sullivan, W. M. (1992) Organochlorine pesticide residues and PCBs in otters (Lutra lutra) from Ireland. Bull, environ. Contam. Toxicol. 48: 387-393.

Murphy, K. P. & Fairley, J. S. (1985) Food and sprainting places of otters on the west coast of Ireland. Ir. Nat. J.

21: 477-479.

O'Sullivan, W. M. (1991) The distribution of otters Lutra lutra within a major Irish river system, the Munster

Blackwater catchment, 1988-90. Ir. Nat. J. 23: 442-446.

Smiddy, P. (1991) Bats and bridges. Ir. Nat. J. 23: 425-426.

THE DISCOVERY OF LOTUS SUBBIFLORUS LAG. IN SOUTH-EAST IRELAND

Rosemary FitzGerald

Research Branch, National Parks and Wildlife Service, 51 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2

Lotus subbiflorus Lag.* (Lotus hispidus Desf. ex DC, L. Suaveolens Pers.), hairy birdsfoot trefoil, is a species ranging from western Europe eastwards to Sicily and N. Africa and including parts of Britain, the Channel Islands and Ireland. Distribution in Britain is

south-western, encompassing the Poole basin on the south coast of England, and the coasts

of Devon and Cornwall, including Lundy Island and the Isles of Scilly. Otherwise it was

known only as a rare plant in Pembrokeshire in Wales, and from three populations in

Ireland, in West Cork (H3). However, the species range, from SW England to W Wales to SW Ireland, indicated, even if the distribution was thin, that the plant could potentially be

present in SE Ireland. The habitat, dry, open, coastal grassland and rocky outcrops, is of course well represented in Co Wexford (HI2), and a number of rare leguminous species, such as Ornithopus perpusillus, Trifolium glomeratum, T. ornithopodioides and T. scabrum are known from this county where the relatively continental climate benefits

therophytes. In retrospect, L. subbiflorus was a species which could be expected in this corner of Ireland but this did not lessen the surprise when John Akeroyd found it at Rosslare

Harbour (Tl 1) in 1989. The site was the lawn of an hotel, and initially the status was in some

doubt, but close examination showed the turf to be a relict piece of cliff-top Cynosurus cristatus grassland, now mowed as part of the hotel grounds. Mowing and trampling on this

* Nomenclature follows Census catalogue of the flora of Ireland 2nd edition (Scannell and Synnott

1987).

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Ir. Nat. J. Vol. 25 No. 6 1993 241

Table 1. Grassland community containing Lotus subbiflorus from the Screen-Curracloe region of Co

Wexford. Species cover abundance values are according to the Braun-Blanquet method.

Releve No. 1

Releve size (m2) 1 Total cover (%) 80

Soil fine sand

Agrostis capillaris 3 Lotus subbiflorus 3

Cerastiumfontanum + Ranunculus repens +

Crepis capillaris 2 Rumex acetosella 2

Centauriumerythraea + Ornithopus perpusillus +

Cytisus scoparius 1 Trifolium dubium 1 Daucuscarota + Ulex europaeus 3

Hypochoeris radicata 3 Viola tricolor +

Lepidium herterophyllum +

dry soil creates an open turf suitable for annuals and associates, including such species as Centaurium erythraea and Trifolium striatum, indicating that this was more likely to be a

'wild' site taken into management than to be the result of introduction. The status of this site is now much less questionable because, in August and September

1990, L. subbiflorus was found in abundance and undoubtedly wild, less than 20km north across Wexford Harbour during work for the Wildlife Service Protected Flora Survey of Co

Wexford and on subsequent field-work for the ASI survey of the same county. All the

populations are found in dry, sandy fields on the Midlandian moraine between Screen and Curracloe reaching as far as the northern limit of these sands at Blackwater village. Further searches in 1991 have shown that the species is locally abundant on the Screen Hills, in open grassland and disturbed sandy areas such as track edges.

A total of six discrete populations are now known to occur in the Screen Hills region but the exact details of their location are not given for conservation reasons. However, their

general locations are as follows:

Rosslare Harbour (Til) J. R. Akeroyd, July 1990

Nr Doo L. (T12) R. FitzGerald & P. O'Sullivan, July 1991

Nr Doo L (T12) T. Curtis, R. FitzGerald & D. & A. Pearman, September 1990

Nr Doo L. (T12) R. FitzGerald & N. Tirard, May 1991

Ballyconnigar Upr (T13) C. Breen & BSBI, October 1990

Ballyconnigar Upr (T13) C. O'Criodain & E. Wymer, June 1991

The Screen-Curracloe moraine is a remarkable landscape feature, previously remarked on by Mitchell (1976). The smooth, hummocky outlines of the sandy hills are pitted with hundreds of kettlehole lakes, varying from the size of a small duck-pond to quite considerable features of several hectares at Lough na Beisc and at Ballyroe. One of the

largest, Doo Lough, is now almost overgrown with dense ling heather, birch and willow scrub within a crescent of more open swamp; a beautiful illustration of the development of this type of sere. Indeed one of the most impressive features of the moraine lakes is the existence of every stage of development from open water, through varieties of swamp and

bog, to damp woodland. Some kettleholes have a mere fringe of emergent vegetation; some

have large floating rafts of Menyanthes and Potentilla palustris. Very wet, quaking bogs barely cover some lake surfaces, but show the beginnings of Sphagnum development, while some show a young dome and are filled with Drosera rotundifolia, Narthecium and Osmunda. The history of the bog exists here in miniature. The impression is given of a

landscape not radically altered since very early historic times.

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242 Ir. Nat. J. Vol. 25 No. 6 1993

Considerable botanical interest also exists in the dry areas. The moraine sands are

extremely base-poor, and this combined with the dryness, and the fact that the lakes are often extremely deep and hard to fill in, has made the land of low value and difficult to

improve. It is used almost entirely for rough grazing, mostly sheep, and must be one of the most undamaged landscapes in southern Ireland. Lotus subbiflorus in SW England usually occurs in dry grassland where grazing or erosion give an open turf and reduce competition. It has been recorded flourishing as a pioneer on cliff slopes in Devon completely cleared by gorse burning (Leach 1983) and is usually found along the edges of tracks and footpaths where management or trampling causes disturbance. The Cynosurus cristatus-Agrostis

capillaris grassland of the moraine is open-textured, grazing stock often seem to cut the turf on steep slopes and hill crests and rabbits are still widespread, all creating excellent habitat.

This parched open habitat supports other rare or local xerophytes. The protected species Logfia minma (Filago minima) and Ornithopus perpusillus are widespread, with

Filago vulgaris, Scleranthus annuus, Trifolium arvense, Viola tricolor and occasionally Silene gallica in disturbed areas. Obviously work has yet to be done on the phytosociology of these communities but they may be assignable to the Koelerio-Coryhephoretea Klika in Klika et Novak (1941), the class of sandy-dry grasslands. In fact an alliance, referred to by White and Doyle (1982), the Thero-Arion Tx. 1951 has as its diagnostic species Aira

caryophyllea, Logfia minima, Ornithopus perpusillus, Vulpia bromoides, Aira praecox and Jasione montana, all of which are widespread throughout the moraine. However, this

*'grassy, ephemeral vegetation of therophytes and hemicryptophytes on base-poor, sandy soils" has "no published records in Ireland" (White and Doyle 1982), though the authors

say "there is good reason to expect its occurrence", and predict that vegetation containing Lotus subbiflorus may be assignable to this alliance. A releve, taken using the

Braun-Blanquet method of cover abundance estimation, from typical grassland vegetation containing L. subbiflorus is given in Table 1.

Both the dry areas and the lakes of this part of Co Wexford need more detailed examination. Previous records from here are few. in 1850 Isaac Carroll recorded Scleranthus annuus from Ballyconnigar (Specimen in DBN) where the northern outlier for L. subbiflorus was found in 1990 by Con Breen, whilst in 1937 A. W. Stelfox collected both

Logfia, Filago and Ornithopus perpusillus from the moraine (DBN). However, it is

surprising that Stelfox did not find L. subbiflorus as his visit was in July, when the plant can

be expected to be in full flower, whilst the first recent record was made in August 1990 after a spring drought and a hot summer had scorched the vegetation. The area also seems likely to have rich invertebrate resources round the relatively unpolluted lakes, and the educational value of geology, botany, bog development and landscape history is clear. The vivid glacial effects, and the small scale of hills and lakes, make it one of the most intimate and charming landscapes in my experience. It seems likely to produce many more scientific

and, in particular, botanical treasures if modern development does not overtake even this intractable land too soon.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr Tom Curtis for assistance with the preparation of this paper; Dr Colman O'Criodain, Mr Con Breen and the Irish Region of BSBI for providing me with new records of L. subbiflorus; Paddy O'Sullivan, Wildlife Ranger, and David and Anita Pearman for assistance with the field work.

REFERENCES

Leach, S. J. (1983) Lotus subbiflorus and L. angustissimus in SW England. BSBI News No. 34: 22.

Mitchell, G. F. (1976) The Irish landscape. Collins, London.

White, J. & Doyle, G. (1982) The vegetation of Ireland: a catalogue raisonne. J. Life Sci. R. Dubl. Soc. 3:

289-368.

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