"On first sight the landscape north of Lisdoonvarna brings a gasp of amazement from most lips. As the road twists and turns from Lemenagh Castle, the grey limestone terraces rise towards the sky and you enter a timeless zone. The cliffs and boulders remind one of geography classes. So that is what teacher meant when he spoke of "clints and grykes and this is uplifting and that is a wave cut platform...."

The geological formations and the evidence of ancient habitation are the obvious features of the Burren. Less obvious is the abundance of living creatures at ankle level and downwards.  For those with patience, a good field guide and a square metre of Burren thirty minutes study whets the appetite for further investigations. From mid-April until the end of October the barren landscape is transformed as a profusion of growth springs from even the tiniest foothold of soil.

First to make their appearance are the yellow Lesser Celandine and the Primrose. Dog Violets with their frail blue flowers brighten the sides of green roads. Up on the pavement where soil is scarce even the Blackthorn with its white flowers on bare stems is prostrate and 'bonsai' in its proportions. The sun-like flower of last year's Carline Thistle stands boldly awaiting rebirth.  The delicate Wood Anemone reveals its white flowers in the shade of rocks. Oak-like leaves of the shrub Mountain Aven carpet the thickly soiled areas. Orchids push their heads upwards, revealing their conical flowers and the intense blue of the Spring Gentian leaves a sense of awe at the variation in colour, texture and design of these perfectly formed creations.

The variety of lichens is a testimony to the purest air in Europe. Grey Ramilinia and Parmelia and Yellow Xanthoria grow close to the rock surface but are independent of it, being an algae and fungus bound together in symbolic intimacy.

Lizards and pygmy shrew, butterflies and beetles see this abundant vegetation as merely a food source and in the complex food chain of this habitat link together and are dependent on each other. The lowly members of Phylum Mollusca, the snails and slugs with their mucus covered soft bodies and calcareous shells have much reason to be the loftiest inhabitants as it was their ancient relatives that provided the sedimentary rock of the Burren by depositing their skeletons to the sea floor. As they did they trapped ancient sea fans, anomonities and corals which can be found as fossils at various places."

Climbing in the Burren

Caving in the Burren