The Caha Mountains (''An Cheacha'' in Irish) are a range of low

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

mountains on the Beara peninsula in south-west

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. The highest peak is Hungry Hill, at . Other notable peaks include Knocknagree, Sugarloaf Mountain, Eskatarriff, Knocknaveacal, Derryclancy, Nareera, Killane Mountain and Baurearagh Mountain.

Mountains

The Caha Mountains have been listed as 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 ...

. The underlying rock is Old Red Sandstone and the terrain generally consists of rocky crags and outcrops interspersed with grassy slopes. The southern part of the range has a broad ridge with a boggy plateau dotted with small lakes, and there are substantial cliffs in the northwestern part. Other habitat types include blanket bog, wet and dry heathland, scree slopes and species-rich grassland.

Ecology

The grassland is dominated by purple moor grass ('' Molinia caerulea''), with some mat grass ('' Nardus stricta''), ''

Festuca ''Festuca'' (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on ...

'' spp. and ''

Agrostis ''Agrostis'' (bent or bentgrass) is a large and very nearly Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan genus of plants in the Poaceae, grass family, found in nearly all the countries in the world. It has been bred as a Genetically modified organis ...

'' spp.. This thins out on the ridges and summits. The dry alpine heath supports heather (''

Calluna vulgaris ''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wide ...

''), bell heather (''

Erica cinerea ''Erica cinerea'', the bell heather, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to western and central Europe. Description It is a low, spreading shrub growing to tall, with fine needle-like leaves long arranged in ...

''), crowberry ('' Empetrum nigrum''), roseroot (''

Rhodiola rosea ''Rhodiola rosea'' (commonly golden root, rose root, roseroot, Aaron's rod, Arctic root, king's crown, ''lignum rhodium'', orpin rose) is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae. It grows naturally in wild Arctic ...

''), St. Patrick's-cabbage ('' Saxifraga spathularis''), heath bedstraw ('' Galium saxatile''), dwarf willow ('' Salix herbacea'') and viviparous fescue ('' Festuca vivipara''), together with the ferns Wilson's filmy-fern ('' Hymenophyllum wilsonii''), hard fern ('' Struthiopteris spicant ''), brittle bladder-fern ('' Cystopteris fragilis''), green spleenwort ('' Asplenium viride''), fir clubmoss ('' Huperzia selago'') and the moss '' Cyclodictyon laetevirens''. The Caha Mountains are notable for the presence of '' Minuartia recurva'', a montane sandwort otherwise not found in Ireland. During a botanical survey of these mountains in 2000, over two hundred plants of the Alpine sandwort were found in each of its two known locations. Other rare plants were recorded; these included the heath pearlwort ('' Sagina subulata''), the hybrid rush '' Juncus conglomeratus x J. effusus'', and the marsh clubmoss '' Lycopodiella inundata'', found in abundance on one rock ledge on Knockowen. The Killarney fern ('' Vandenboschia speciosa'') can also be found here. The Caha Mountains are home to the

Kerry slug The Kerry slug or Kerry spotted slug (''Geomalacus maculosus'') is a species of terrestrial, pulmonate, gastropod mollusc. It is a medium-to-large sized, air-breathing land slug in the Family (biology), family of roundback slugs, Arionidae. Ad ...

, otters, badgers, hares, lizards, brown trout and frogs. The

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

breeds here and the ring ouzel is one of the birds that visits the area during

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

Mountains

Ecology

References

See also