2006 Fungi of Fingal Woodlands - Fingal Biodiversity

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Ecological Study of the Countryside Habitats in County Fingal Woodland fungi There has been no published information on the fungi of Ardgillan Demesne. It is also the first time Ardgillan has been surveyed for fungi or for lichens. Ardgillan Castle has probably been the most stable site with regard to land ownership compared to other sites in the survey. For its size and lack of large wooded area, Ardgillan has some good fungi. Staff interest has helped to maintain fungal diversity. 1.3.2 Howth Demesne Overview of Howth Demesne and Harbour from Muck Rock Howth Castle and its associated lands have had a long history. The founder of the Howth family was Sir Armoricus Tristram in 1177. The 20 th Lord of Howth built the castle which is part of the main castle building today. A portal tomb or cromlech at the base of Muck Rock, or Carrickmore cliff, is said to be the tomb of Aedeen, daughter of Aengus of Ben Edar. Aedeen is said to have died around 284 AD. Sir Samuel Ferguson (1810-1886) conjured an image of Aedeen’s burial in his poem ‘The Cromlech on Howth’ ‘….In a queenly grave we leave her Among the fields of fern Between the cliff and wave….’ This may indicate that this area of land was not wooded in Samuel Ferguson’s time. Fungal recording in the past Howth is the major exception to the rule in that there is some historical fungal information. The most significant published paper is a report by Carleton Rea of a British Mycological Society/Dublin Naturalists’ Field Club Meeting in the area (1898 Irish Naturalist vol. 7 pp. 286-289). In 1996 Julian Roche, a botany student at Trinity College Dublin, completed an undergraduate thesis on the macrofungi of woodlands at Howth under the supervision of Dr. Paul Dowding. Fieldwork took place between October 1995 and February 1996. During that study, 33 species were seen and monitored, and two fungi in the Genera Coprinus and Boletus were not identified to species. 8
Ecological Study of the Countryside Habitats in County Fingal Woodland fungi Howth Demesne today Birch, Oak, Beech and Sycamore with some Horse Chestnut, Ash, Scot’s Pine and Larch – these trees are common at Howth. The woodlands’ understorey is of Rhododendron, Ivy or in more heathy places Bracken or Bramble. Hazel is infrequent. On Muck Rock, the vegetation around exposed rock outcrops is quite different with Gorse and Ling heather dominant. The Valley between Muck Rock and Dun Hill is called Birch Grove. It is owned by An Taisce. Geologically, the area is dominated by Bray Series rocks of Cambrian age. These old rocks are quartzites and other metasediments and are at least 500 million years old. Cooney (1994) conducted a palynological study at Howth. The main thesis is that vegetation during the Middle Ages was of Birch, Alder and Hazel. There may have been a fire or series of fires but heath and patchy scrub then followed. In the 1830s Scot’s Pine was introduced as part of a planting phase and Hazel disappeared. Pastures were marked on the 1837 O.S. map for the area on Ben of Howth and also parts of Dun Hill. Birch has made a natural recovery and has extended over heath in the last 50 years – probably as a result of goat removal. Roche (1996) stated that between 1843 and 1937 the amount of woodland around the Ben of Howth – Dun Hill area increased by 54%, heath and scrub by 2.6% and the area of farmed land decreased by 7.1%. Cooney (1994) considered the change in land use to be a consequence of the 1845-1850 Famine. In more recent times the potato rows on land under Muck Rock have been smoothed into the fairways of Deerpark golf course. 1.3.3 Newbridge House Demesne Agaricus campestris in lawn near Newbridge House The architect George Semple designed the lovely Newbridge House which was built for Charles Cobbe (1686-1765), cousin and chaplin to the Lord Lieutenant and later Archbishop of Dublin. There is no published data on fungi from Newbridge Demesne. 9
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2006 Fungi of Fingal Woodlands - Fingal Biodiversity

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