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How amazing to find Mountain Everlasting (Antennaria dioica) on Sliabh Muc, Co. Down after a long hiatus of 146 years since Praeger last recorded it!! Other lovelies included parsley fern, beech fern, alpine club moss and dwarf willow. The Mournes deserves so much more conservation attention!!

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I’ve had E. officinalis too and that’s really as much as I’m gonna get since salisburgensis is highly local. So much easier to tackle now

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Plagiochila spinulosa, Saccogyna viticulosa, Dicranum majus and Frullania tamarisci - all staples of Irish temperate rainforest. Hymenophyllum wilsonii also present which is a new Hectad record! I was told about some nice graphidion lichens here but I didn’t see them. Did find Sticta sp.

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I visited a tiny slither of woodland on a crag near Binevenagh, Co. Derry recently and despite its size it packed a big punch of temperate rainforest diversity. Loads of Colura calyptrifolia and Lejeunea patens. I also found another popn of Endoantria benetecta which is the first for the county

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I was seeing what I thought was all E. nemorosa at Portstewart Strand yesterday. Will know for sure next week

Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

There is a a small population below Little Trosk, Co. Antrim on private land that I saw on 28th July - only one plant however. Up the hill from Cranny Falls, Carnlough. Can’t guarantee that it is still out

Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Some lovelies from the shores of Spelga Dam in the rain Dryopteris carthusiana - a rare fern in the Mournes Typha latifolia - the first hectad record surprisingly Sparganium angustifolium exposed by lower water levels Plus epiphytic Peltigera sp. lichen on willow Also evidence of old tree stumps

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Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I got to explore Árainn Mhór on the weekend for the first time. I only had a few hours to botanise but it was great to see so much Frullania teneriffae liverwort, mounds of crowberry and creeping willow. I was also shocked how much Himalayan balsam and knotweed there was there though!!

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Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Another species checked off the list (I don’t actually have a list) with Irish Lady’s-tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana) from Little Trosk, Co. Antrim. Lovely to see so much lesser clubmoss beside the orchid too. Plus the amazing moss Breutelia chrysocoma telling us that it rains here a lot…

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Reposted by Dean Mac Cú Uladh

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) @bsbibotany.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

We're hiring! We have a new Local Change project, building on previous monitoring projects, to provide crucial data on the state of our wild plants. Here's the background: bsbi.org/take-part/pr... We're now looking to recruit a Project Coordinator: could that be you? bsbi.org/about/news/l...

bsbi.org

Local Change: Project Coordinator vacancy

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Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Gymnadenia conopsea s.l., Epipactis palustris, Neottia ovata, Schoenus nigricans, Pulicaria dysenterica and Brizia media All from an alkaline fen on the Cooley Peninsula, Co. Louth

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Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

How excited I was to find Oreopteris limbosperma/lemon-scented fern from a damp heathy grassland in Cor na Muclach, Co. Louth! This is the first record of this fern from this area since Praeger’s record in 1887! It really did smell like lemons… @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiireland.bsky.social

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Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

A local ravine supports a wall of Plagiochila spinulosa, presumably a colony that is decades (if not longer) old, based on the thickness of the clumps. They of course fall off and I felt I had to place this huge piece back to another rock face! @bbsbryology.bsky.social

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Reposted by Dean Mac Cú Uladh

cianoceallaigh.bsky.social @cianoceallaigh.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Plagiochila carringtonii found in the sléibhte Mhám Toirce (Maamturks) at numerous locations yesterday on a Wild Atlantic Nature survey with @timoceallaigh.bsky.social + Adelanthus lindenbergianus's now 2nd site in same Mt. range Go raibh míle maith ag @nimbosaecology.bsky.social for verifying

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Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Join me on the 18th August for an exciting day recording montane plants on Sliabh Muc in the Spelga Valley, Eastern Mournes, Co. Down You can expect Alpine Clubmoss, Parsley Fern and Stiff Sedge, and we will try our best to refind Stag’s-horn Clubmoss and Alpine Saw-wort!! bsbi.org/take-part/ev...

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Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Then a stop on the way home to a lovely temperate rainforest in South Tyrone yielded Trichomanes specious gametophyte, Hymenophyllum tunbrigense, Peltigera collina and P. horizontalis (a new site record) Plus bryos Pseudomarsupidium decepiens and Lepidozia cupressina to top it all off!

Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

A wonderful (but rainy) day spent on the lovely water meadows of Lower Loch Erne, Co. Fermanagh We came across local highlights such as Oenanthe fistulosa, Stellaria palustris, Ranunculus lingua and Carex diandra. Loads of Pedicularis palustris too

Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Lythrum salicaria, Lycopus europaeus, Helosciadium inundatum and Peltigera praetextata from reedmarsh and wet woodland today, Mill Pond, Co. Down First time seeing lesser marshwort and great to see it since it is a declining species

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Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

New site for Climacium dendroides from Camloch, Co. Armagh (H37) growing on rocks along shoreline.

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Dean Mac Cú Uladh @dmac00.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Join myself on the 15th July for an intermediate training course on sand dune plants at the stunning Murlough NR, Co. Down, one of the country’s best sand dune systems!! We will cover the plant ecology of sand dunes but also look at the rarer plants on Murlough too! bsbi.org/take-part/ev...

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And to tie it all together, the swallows were skimming the lake surface, herons were screeching, mallards dancing and damselflies flirting among the reeds. Of course a proper dip into the lake was needed at the end. What else would you be doing during mid-summer??!

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Heathland and woodland species also made themselves known such as Erica cinerea, Potentilla erecta and Luzula sylvatica - such a lovely blend of contrasting botanical assemblages

Plants which thrive on the intersection between lake and land such as Valeriana officinalis, Alnus glutinosa and Ranunculus flammula were common sights and provided lovely colour to the evening

Aquatic species included blooming Persicaria amphibia in large floating mats, plentiful Littorella uniflora growing in the shallow edges among rocks, and beds of Eleocharis spp. (spikerushes)

Great to find a selection of ferns such as Osmunda regalis and Athyrium filix-femina along the rocky shore on the edge of the woodland and Equisetum fluviatile poking out of the water near some bulrush beds