Pettigoe Plateau

General site character

• Inland water bodies (Standing water, Running water) (5%)
  
• Bogs, Marshes, Water fringed vegetation, Fens (76%)
  
• Heath, Scrub, Maquis and Garrigue, Phygrana (19%)
  

Annex I habitats that are a primary reason for selection of this site

• 3160 Natural dystrophic lakes and ponds

  The uplands of Pettigoe Plateau, which extend from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland into County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland, are covered by an extensive area of undulating western 7130 Blanket bogs and heathland with numerous wetlands. The site contains the largest series of bog pool complexes in Northern Ireland. These natural dystrophic lakes and ponds are all less than 0.5 ha in size, and tend to be steep-sided, with banks and bed formed by layers of deep peat. The flora and fauna of these is generally rather impoverished, which is typical of such low-nutrient and base-poor waters.

• 7130 Blanket bogs (* if active bog)  * Priority feature

  Pettigoe is the only extensive lowland area of blanket bog in Northern Ireland. The site contains a large number of well-developed pool complexes, frequent acid flushes and basin mires. The vegetation is a mixture of generally Sphagnum-rich mire with cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix and Sphagnum papillosum, with extensive areas in which deergrass Trichophorum cespitosum and hare’s-tail cottongrass Eriophorum vaginatum are dominant. A notable floristic feature is the abundance of purple moor-grass Molinia caerulea and black bog-rush Schoenus nigricans on the bog plain, a characteristic feature of hyper-oceanic lowland Blanket bogs. The rare bog-mosses Sphagnum fuscum, S. imbricatum and S. pulchrum occur on the site. Species such as intermediate bladderwort Utricularia intermedia and oblong-leaved sundew Drosera intermedia are abundant here but are generally absent from other Blanket bogs in Northern Ireland.

Annex I habitats present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for selection of this site

• 3130 Oligotrophic to mesotrophic standing waters with vegetation of the Littorelletea uniflorae and/or of the Isoëto-Nanojuncetea
• 4010 Northern Atlantic wet heaths with Erica tetralix
• 4030 European dry heaths

Annex II species that are a primary reason for selection of this site

• Not Applicable

Annex II species present as a qualifying feature, but not a primary reason for site selection

• Not Applicable