Flora

One of the most significant influences on the flora and subsequently the fauna of Bonane is the underlying rock, Old Red Sandstone. This type of rock was laid down during the Devonian Period (approx 400 million years ago) Sandstone consists of grains of sand which are deposited in areas such as river floodplains, and are held together by a natural binding agent which can be either chlorite, silica or oxides of iron. These binding agents can give sandstone colours ranging from green to red and purple.

Another huge influence on the flora and fauna is the presence of the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is a warm ocean current that washes across the Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico and extends a warm moist influence to our climate. When examining the flora of an area the main influences are going to be Sunshine, Temperature and Rainfall

Sunshine: Records would indicate that we have at least some sunshine for 290 days during each year

Temperature: The annual average air temperature is 10.5 C. The temperatures usually vary between 6.6 C and 15 C

Rainfall: While many visitors would say that rainfall is our most memorable climatic feature, there is much local variation with the summit of the Caha mountain receiving something in the region of 3,400 millimetres annually and the parish floor receiving 1,700 millimetres of rainfall.

The above climatic conditions combine to give Bonane a unique floral carpet.

Much of our hills are covered with blanket bog that can be up to two metres deep in places. The wetter areas of the blanket bogs are covered in Sphagnum Mosses, these mosses can be recognised by their lush green colour and you would be ill advised to walk in these areas.

In the drier hillsides you will find heathers, the three main types are ling heather, bell heather and the cross-leaved heather.  The heather gives the mountains a purple hue on an autumn evening.

Also the drier sections of the hillside can sometimes be covered with bilberry, this low growing shrub produce a fruit in Autumn which provides a delicious treat for the intrepid walker and in times past provided part of the ingredients for a purple dye.

The moderately wet areas of the hillside are covered with a mixture of rushes, deergrass and bog cotton.

The hills are usually low in nutrients and nature has given rise to a variety of plant which traps and digests insects to supplement their meagre diet on the hillside. The two insectivorous plants which are widespread in Bonane are the Butterworth and the Sundew. These two plants are rarely observed outside the southwest of Ireland.

The Butterworth is our most striking of insectivorous plants with its yellow-green leaves which secrete insect dissolving enzymes and it’s attractive purple flower.

The Sundew, a small reddish plant, is more widespreadand traps it’s insects on sticky tentacles, it is estimated that a single sundew may catch up to 2,000 insects every year. (an answer to the midge problem?)

There is an abundance of fern’s, lichen and gorse. Our hills also support a number of orchid varieties.

The variety of flora is no less abundant along the valley floor. The top canopy of trees consists mainly of oak, birch, ash, mountain ash, sally and alder. In the past 30 years we have seen the growth of monoculture forestry.

Along our streams, rivers and ditches we can boast all the common varieties of flowers, buttercup, bluebell, daisy, herbrobert, louseworth, speedwell, and forget-me-not.

Bonane is home to some of the “Lusitanian” family of plants, this variety of plants is found only in the south west of Ireland, north west Spain and Portugal. The two most abundant species of the “Lusitanian” family are the Irish spurge (bainne caoine) with its bright yellow green tufts and its habit of excreting a milky substance when the stem is broken. Parts of this plant are known to have been used by poachers in the past. The second species is the saxifrage, this plant prefers shaded walls and ditches and provides a dramatic display of reddish/white flowers along the roadside.

The fuchsia another introduced species colour our hedgerows with red pendulous flowers from May to August

Fauna