Ballyteigue or Ballyteige is a national nature reserve of approximately in

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

, Ireland. It is 1.5 km east of

Lisdoonvarna Lisdoonvarna () is a spa town in County Clare in Ireland. The town is famous for its music and festivals. Although the Lisdoonvarna Music Festival was discontinued in the 1980s, the town still hosts an annual matchmaking festival each September ...

. Ballyteigue is managed by the Irish National Parks & Wildlife Service.

Features

Ballyteigue, also known as Ballyteige, was legally protected as a national nature reserve by the Irish government in 1986. It has also been designated a

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

. Ballyteigue is composed of five parcels of

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...

heath or molinia meadows. The land is managed using traditional hay-making techniques which maintain the wet meadows as examples of a habitat that is typical of the region. There is a large number of marsh orchids.

Irish hare ''Lepus timidus hibernicus'', more commonly known as the Irish hare, is a subspecies of the mountain hare (''Lepus timidus'') that is native to the island of Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic ...

snipe A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/ camouflaging plumage. ''Gallinago'' snipe have a nearly ...

common frog The common frog or grass frog (''Rana temporaria''), also known as the European common frog, European common brown frog, European grass frog, European Holarctic true frog, European pond frog or European brown frog or simply the frog, is a semi ...

s, and orange tip butterflies are endemic to the reserve.

References

{{Reflist Geography of County Clare Nature reserves in the Republic of Ireland Tourist attractions in County Clare Special Areas of Conservation in the Republic of Ireland