Unseen impact of Mournes fire damage

27 April 2022

LAST Saturday marked the first anniversary of an event that thrust Northern Ireland into the global headlines: the Mournes fire.

The flames began early on April 23 in the Bloody Bridge Valley just south of Newcastle. For three days, the fire engulfed the northern slopes of Slieve Donard, with over 100 firefighters involved in dramatic attempts to prevent it inflaming Donard Forest.

While those efforts were successful, around 3.5 square kilometres of protected habitat was still left smouldering. Subsequent media reports quoted wildlife experts who lamented the long-term damage — although those of us who know the mountains only from casual weekend walks could be forgiven for wondering exactly what was the devastating impact. Green shoots resprouted within weeks and the area never seems to be teeming with diverse flora and fauna anyway.

But there is more to Mourne wildlife than meets the eye.

The days of bears, boars and wolves in our mountains have long passed. Eagle Rock, a breeding ground just below Donard’s summit, has also emptied – the last eagles were hunted out of existence by the 1840s.

But there is still plenty of birdlife, including wrens, pipits, wagtails, red grouse and snipe. The odd heron swoops around the streams and predatory buzzards and peregrine falcons also frequent the area.

Red kites, saved from extinction in the 1990s by local protection programmes, are sometimes seen circling above a carcass or other prey.

Ravens are common too, seen gliding around Slieve Donard’s summit, waiting for a stray sandwich crust. A family nesting on Donard’s lower slopes, with three young chicks, were monitored by National Trust rangers during last year’s fire. Luckily, they survived unscathed.

Various moths and butterflies also live in the fire-affected area, including graylings, green hairstreaks and the dark green fritillary. There are also rare beetles and invertebrates like the keeled skimmer — a nationally rare dragonfly. They helped secure status as an Area of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation.

Mourne flora is equally vibrant. Multiple types of heather give the slopes their purple coat. One variant — the pink-blossoming Calluna Vulgaris — holds the world record for pollen production, with up to 16 million grains per square metre. So predominant

are these heathers that the local poet Richard Rowley wrote:

The heather stretchin’ wide,

The granite glintin’ in the sun,

Nary a thing beside.

There are also ferns, fungi, moss and lichens, and while the Mournes don’t possess the plethora of flowering plants that Alpine ranges have, you can still find buttercups, violets, bogbean and eyebright — and even rarities like health spotted orchid.

Trees are also rare. A few holly bushes and rowan trees cling precariously to rocky outcrops. The odd juniper tree can also be found. But the steeper Mourne slopes are generally not wooded — and never have been.

Historical peat profiles show that our mountains rarely contained timber, although there was a prehistoric forest of ash, birch and hazel in the Bloody Bridge valley. The limited woodland reduces the range of animal life, although red squirrels, feral horses and even fallow deer can still be found in Donard Forest (the deer stray from Tollymore Forest, where there is a large herd).

As for other animals, it is a misperception that sheep are the only custodians of the mountains. The names of the Mourne peaks even suggest that our mountains are a veritable menagerie. As well as Eagle Rock, there are peaks named Hen, Cock and Pigeon Rock.

The Deer’s Meadow was flooded to build Spelga Dam in 1957 and now receives waters from Slieve Muck, meaning ‘Mountain of Pigs’ — although this is due to its shape rather than any pigs living there. To the east of Slieve Muck is Lough Shannagh, whose name hints at the presence of an animal that only early morning walkers catch a glimpse of. It means ‘Lake of the Fox’.

The folklore behind Lough Shannagh’s name starts with an ancient hunter named Sheelagh, a fearless daughter of a local clan chief. She, along with other hunters, were chasing a fox in the Mourne foothills when she broke away and tracked the fox into the mountains. The others tried to keep pace, but she was soon alone. Then the mist closed in. Visibility ped to zero.

When the fox ran into a lough, Sheelagh followed it on horseback, convinced that she had it trapped. But the fox vanished. She tried to find the shore but found herself sinking. Soon her horse was totally submerged.

The rest of the hunt searched for days afterwards but never found her. Local tradition alleges that, when the mist closes in today, a ghostly woman can still be seen in the lough, on her horse, still searching for the cunning creature.

Sheelagh’s story is not the only Mourne folklore involving flora and fauna. Reports of the so-called Mourne Panther emerge periodically and there is even the legend of ‘Hungry Grass’ — patches of strange grass among the mountains which, if stepped on, spark overpowering hunger pangs. The remedy, as Richard Rowley wrote, is a slice of soda bread:

From Bearnagh to Binnian

An’ back again

There’s quare things happens

To mountainy men,

But if on the hill side

Yer days must pass,

Keep a shepherd’s piece

For the Hungry Grass.

“An’ the pangs o’ hunger

Tear flesh and bone,

An’ ye crumple and crawl

To die alone.

A Shepherd’s Piece;

A soda-farl

Buttered and split

Wi’ a rasher inside

To give a taste till it

Whether horses, heather or hungry grass, these stories remind us of how vibrant the Mourne history and habitat are — and how lucky we are to have this array of flora and fauna on our doorstep.

The first anniversary of Slieve Donard’s fire is also reminder that we should do all we can to protect it.

Tweets by @TheDownRecorder