Cuilcagh Maintain

Cuilcagh Mountain is situated in County Fermanagh in the west of Northern Ireland along the International border with the Irish Republic. It is one of the largest expanses of blanket bog in Northern Ireland, formed on a relatively high elevation upland landscape and bounded by limestone grassland to the north and montane habitats to the south. The extensive blanket bog that covers most of the site exhibits the full range of characteristic vegetation and structural features associated with this type of habitat.

The blanket bog exhibits a wide range of characteristic vegetation and structural features, with locally well developed pool, hummock and lawn features, acid flushes and bog bursts. The bog vegetation is locally characterised by luxuriant Sphagnum mosses, but over most of the site dwarf-shrubs and graminoid species dominate, with the strong oceanic influence indicated by the constancy and frequency of Bog Myrtle, the moss Campylopus atrovirens and the liverwort Pleurozia purpurea.

Cuilcagh Mountain is one of the most important upland breeding sites in Northern Ireland for the golden plover, an Irish Red Data Book species. Other Red Data Book bird species occurring on the site include merlin, and there are past records of ring ouzel. The bog is also occasionally used for feeding by greenland white-fronted geese.