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Connemara National Park
Connemara National Park () is one of eight national parks in Ireland, managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. It is located in the northwest of Connemara in County Galway, on the west coast. History Connemara National Park was founded and opened to the public in 1980. It features of mountains, bogs, heaths, grasslands and forests. The entrance is situated on the Clifden side of Letterfrack. There are many remnants of human habitation within the park. There is a 19th-century graveyard as well as 4,000-year-old megalithic court tombs. The land was once part of the Kylemore Abbey estate. Environment Flora Western blanket bog and heathland are the most common vegetation of Connemara National Park. The boglands are situated in wet low-lying environments whereas the blanket bog exists within the drier mountain atmosphere. Purple moorgrass is the most bountiful plant, creating colorful landscapes throughout the countryside. Carnivorous plants play an important role in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diamond Hill (Ireland)
Diamond Hill or Bengooria () is an isolated peak overlooking the village of Letterfrack, in the northwest corner of the Twelve Bens in Connemara National Park in County Galway, Ireland. At only , it does not rank as an Arderin, or a Vandeleur-Lynam; however, it has the prominence to rank as a Marilyn.Mountainviews, (September 2013), "A Guide to Ireland's Mountain Summits: The Vandeleur-Lynams & the Arderins", Collins Books, Cork, Diamond Hill lies just west of Knockbrack and the small massif of Benbrack, and looks into the Polladirk valley, around which several major Bens are located. Despite its moderate size and isolation, compared to the nearby Twelve Bens, Diamond Hill is a popular peak due to its paths and boarded mountain trail, and relative ease of access, together with views of the core Twelve Bens range, and western Connemara. Naming According to Irish academic Paul Tempan, "Ghuaire" most likely refers to Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin (died 663), one of the King ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milkwort
''Polygala'' is a large genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Polygalaceae. They are commonly known as milkworts or snakeroots. The genus is distributed widely throughout much of the world''Polygala''. Flora of China. in zones and the .''Polygala''. The Jepson eFlora 2013. The genus name ''Polygala'' comes from the |
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
The Eurasian sparrowhawk (''Accipiter nisus''), also known as the northern sparrowhawk or simply the sparrowhawk, is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Adult male Eurasian sparrowhawks have bluish grey upperparts and orange-barred underparts; females and juveniles are brown above with brown barring below. The female is up to 25% larger than the male – one of the greatest size differences between the sexes in any bird species. Though it is a predator which specialises in catching woodland birds, the Eurasian sparrowhawk can be found in any habitat and often hunts garden birds in towns and cities. Males tend to take smaller birds, including Tit (bird), tits, finches and Old World sparrow, sparrows; females catch primarily Thrush (bird), thrushes and starlings but are capable of killing birds weighing or more. The Eurasian sparrowhawk is found throughout the temperate and subtropical parts of the Old World; whilst birds from the northern parts of the range Bird mig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Kestrel
The common kestrel (''Falco tinnunculus''), also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel or Old World kestrel, is a species of bird of prey, predatory bird belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family (biology), family Falconidae. In the United Kingdom, where no other kestrel species commonly occurs, it is generally just called the "kestrel". This species occurs over a large native range. It is widespread in Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as occasionally reaching the east coast of North America. It has colonized a few oceanic islands, but vagrant individuals are generally rare; in the whole of Micronesia for example, the species was only recorded twice each on Guam and Saipan in the Marianas. Taxonomy The common kestrel was Species description, formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the current binomial nomenclature, binomial name ''Falco tinnunculu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eurasian Wren
The Eurasian wren (''Troglodytes troglodytes'') or northern wren is a very small insectivorous bird, and the only member of the wren family Troglodytidae found in Eurasia and Africa (Maghreb). In Anglophone Europe, it is commonly known simply as the wren. It has a very short tail which is often held erect, a short neck and a relatively long thin bill. It is russet brown above, paler buff-brown below and has a cream buff supercilium. The sexes are alike. The species was once Lumpers and splitters, lumped with ''winter wren, Troglodytes hiemalis'' of eastern North America and ''Pacific wren, Troglodytes pacificus'' of western North America as the winter wren. The Eurasian wren occurs in Europe and across the Palearctic – including a belt of Asia from northern Iran and Afghanistan across to Japan. It is bird migration, migratory in only the northern parts of its range. It is also highly Polygyny in animals, polygynous, an unusual mating system for passerines. The scientific nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Robin
The European robin (''Erithacus rubecula''), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in the British Isles, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found across Europe, east to Western Siberia and south to North Africa; it is Sedentism, sedentary in the west and south of its range, and bird migration, migratory in the north and east of its range where winters are harsher. It is in length; the male and female are identical in plumage, with an orange-toned red breast and face lined with grey, brown upper-parts and a whitish belly. Juveniles are distinct, freckled brown all over and without the red breast; first-winter immatures are like the adults, except for more obvious yellow-brown tips to the wing covert feathers (inconspicuous or absent in adults). Etymology The distinctive orange breast of both sexes contributed to the European robin's original name of "redbreast", ''orange'' as a colour name being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Chaffinch
The Eurasian chaffinch, common chaffinch, or simply the chaffinch (''Fringilla coelebs'') is a common and widespread small passerine bird in the finch family. The male is brightly coloured with a blue-grey cap and rust-red underparts. The female is more subdued in colouring, but both sexes have two contrasting white wing bars and white sides to the tail. The male bird has a strong voice and sings from exposed perches to attract a mate. The chaffinch breeds in much of Europe, across the Palearctic to Siberia. The female builds a nest with a deep cup in the fork of a tree. The clutch is typically four or five eggs, which hatch in about 13 days. The chicks fledge in around 14 days, but are fed by both adults for several weeks after leaving the nest. Outside the breeding season, chaffinches form flocks in open countryside and forage for seeds on the ground. During the breeding season, they forage on trees for invertebrates, especially caterpillars, and feed these to their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Stonechat
The European stonechat (''Saxicola rubicola'') is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the common stonechat. Long considered a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relatives in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. It is found across Europe, as far east as Ukraine and the South Caucasus, and in parts of North Africa. Taxonomy and systematics The European stonechat was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Motacilla rubicola''. This species is now placed in the genus '' Saxicola'' that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1802. The English name derives from its call, sounding like two stones knocked together. The scientific name ''Saxicola'' means "rock-dweller", from Latin ''saxum'' meaning "a rock" and ''incola'' meaning "dwelling in". The specific epithet comb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skylark
''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands .... Further, at least two additional species are known from the fossil record. The current genus name is from Latin ''alauda'', "lark". Pliny the Elder thought the word was originally of Celtic origin. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Alauda'' was introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The type species was subsequently designated as the Eurasian skylark. The genus ''Alauda'' has four extant and at least two extinct species. Formerl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meadow Pipit
The meadow pipit (''Anthus pratensis'') is a small passerine bird that breeds throughout much of the Palearctic, from south-eastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isolated population also occurs in the Caucasus Mountains. It is migratory over most of its range, wintering in southern Europe, North Africa, and south-western Asia, but is resident year-round in western Europe, although even here many birds move to the coast or lowlands in winter. Taxonomy The meadow pipit was formally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Alauda pratensis''. The type locality is Sweden. The meadow pipit is now the type species of the genus ''Anthus'' that was introduced in 1805 by German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein. The species is monotypic; no subspecies are recognised. The generic name ''Anthus'' is the Latin n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise Marchantiophyta, liverworts, mosses, and hornworts. Mosses typically form dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple leaf, leaves that are generally only one cell thick, attached to a plant stem, stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients. Although some species have conducting tissues, these are generally poorly developed and structurally different from similar tissue found in vascular plants. Mosses do not have seeds and after fertilisation develop sporophytes with unbranched stalks topped with single capsules containing sporangium, spores. They are typically tall, though some species ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), mutualistic relationship.Introduction to Lichens – An Alliance between Kingdoms . University of California Museum of Paleontology. . Lichens are the lifeform that first brought the term symbiosis (as ''Symbiotismus'') into biological context. Lichens have since been recognized as important actors in nutrient cycling and producers which many higher trophic feeders feed on, such as reindeer, gastropods, nematodes, mites, and springtails. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms. They come in man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
