Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
General => General Chat => Topic started by: MikeD on May 06, 2011
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Hi Everyone,
Has anyone been up the mournes that could let me know what areas to avoid due to being burnt by the gorse fires, as I might take go up over the weekend for a long walk?
And there's nothing worse then walking through those burnt sections, shoes get boggin.
Mike
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The Annalong Valley seems to be the worst hit an probably best avoided, other areas affected seem to be more localised any fairly easy to walk around.
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During the week I looked up the Mourne information websites but no new updates there. I thought they would have had something consolidated for tourists, walkers locals. :(
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Cheers, it is a poor show that this info isn't readily available, especially from Newcastle tourism point of view.
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they think they can announce to the media the mournes are closed then forget to announce they are open again, i often wonder if this country really does want tourists ???
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I'm interested to see what the Annalong Valley, Beg, Cove, Lamagan & Binnian look like. I'm sure there will be some photos around soon. I had planned to take a group up in two weeks time to go that route.
I'm sure it's a no go. When it's dry you'll be kicking soot up in everyones faces, when it's wet I can only imagine the soggy mess it would be. >:(
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Herewith copy of my query to Mourne Heritage Trust.
http://mournelive.com/contactus/confirm.asp
I'm not sure who to ask but would be grateful if you could advise if I can go walking again in the Mournes after the recent fires. If so what are the access points to use and areas to avoid. There is a lack of information available subsequent to the advice to stay away. Not good for tourists or locals. Thank you.
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I was planning on going up this weekend anyway. Anyone want to tag along more than welcome. May even go up Friday evening for a quick jaunt.
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Just checked emails and no response from Mourne Heritage Trust to my email query as above. I'll try and make a few phone calls tomorrow.
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A copy & paste from the MHT website.
"Update on the Wildfires in the Mournes 4 May 2011
An initial inspection of areas in the Annalong Valley by Mourne Heritage Trust Countryside staff suggest that it has experienced a surface burn only with roots and seed bark appearing to be largely unaffected in the areas surveyed to date. However on huge area – several hundred acres – has been scarred by the recent fires and will take a significant time to recover, even if the fire has not damaged the underlying peat and soil.
Some pockets of vegetation continue to smoulder and the advice from the Fire and Rescue Service is that the fire risk will remain high for at least as long as the dry spell continues. Fortunately the badly needed rain appears to be on the way, forecast for Wednesday night / early Thursday morning."
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Reply from Mourne Heritage Trust
The NI Fire and Rescue service have advised that the fires are under control however, when entering the mountains to exercise due care. We have been advised that the most effected areas are Trassey Track, Annalong Valley and Yellow Water Forest .
Any updates we receive is available to read on our website, facebook and twitter.
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ok, i got 2 outta 3, but where is yellow water forest (sorry, map is in the car and i've no shoes on ;D )
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I think there's such a forest in the western Mournes north of Rostrevor and south of Leitrim Lodge, at least there's a Yellow Water River with forest beside it.
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I think there's such a forest in the western Mournes north of Rostrevor and south of Leitrim Lodge, at least there's a Yellow Water River with forest beside it.
There's a car park and picnic area there, I quite often park there to head up to the forest in Kilbroney Red Bog. From what I saw on the TV pictures it looked like the other side of the road was affected but I could be wrong and haven't been up since before Easter. I hope it's not too badly affected, that's one of my favourite spots for a day's walk in the Mournes.
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I was in the mournes yesterday and was walking along the Annalong Woods and the outside of the wood looked fine but looking into the wood and towards the middle of the wood it has been desamated. There is still the sound of birds in the trees and the air is full with the smell of bonfire. It is a very sad sight towards the end of the wood, it reminds me on a napalm strike from a vietnam film (Platoon).
But on the good side there is still a camping area avalible around 100 from the end of the wood. A large green area that was not affected by the fire, there is the smell of camp fire but sure you would be smelling of that anyway.
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Did you get any photos of it? What does it look like on a map?
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I did get photos but unable to up load as I have no Internet access ant home at the moment. I dont understand the 2nd question. did you mean where in the map?
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Yeah, sorry wasn't very clear about the map question! If you were looking at Annalong Wood on the OS 1:25000 map what area would the fire damage cover?
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When walkling under binnian it most of the wood next to the track. I will dig out a map on here and put it up.
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There is still the sound of birds in the trees
One reason to look on the bright side is that the Mournes conifer plantations aren't actually very good for birds other than a few conifer-liking species such as goldcrest coal tit, siskin and crossbill (not sure if the latter are present in the Mournes). Generalists such as woodpigeon, hoody crows etc. are present too and where there are broadleaved trees the common /garden tits, finches and thrushes in low densities.
But in general, the conifer forests are not great for birds or invertebrates. Think wood mice numbers are also lower under conifers than deciduous. Basically cos conifers are non-native so the species we have aren't adapted to live in them.
Hopefully some of the areas affected by the fires will be left to regenerate naturally allowing a range of deciduous scrub and woodland to develop. If this happens the variety of bird species and overall bird numbers should increase.
However I don't welcome the fires cos Annalong Forest is my favourite Mournes camping spot. (On a number of occasions there I've seen abandoned campfires still burning fiercely). Also some areas that were previously burned/felled just don't seem to have regenerated at all.
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Its a bit strange to me (city folk) that you don't see more wildlife when out walking in the mournes. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I always feel a little disappointed I dont see more.....
Today at the park, I saw a cat chase a mouse through the carpark, they were both running towards me. I had the dog with me in the back of the car, I wish I could have let her out, so I'd have had, a dog chasing a cat chasing a mouse ;D
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Its a bit strange to me (city folk) that you don't see more wildlife when out walking in the mournes. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but I always feel a little disappointed I dont see more.....
The uplands generally support less species than the lowlands but there is wildlife in the Mournes. There are a few upland specialists e.g. ring ouzel, snow bunting, red grouse, plus birds of open country such as skylarks, meadow pipits and wheatear. Peregrines and ravens nest on the cliffs. Also present are the few bird species of the conifer plantations discussed above. There are also generalist species which are good at surviving anywhere e.g. foxes.
Usually the lower slopes, where there's more mixed habitat with gorse scrub and deciduous trees, support more wildlife.
A general tip is that early morning or late evening are best for seeing wildlife. Also fewer people is better.
Re. the fires harming wildlife the skylarks and meadow pipits probably lost quite a few eggs / nestlings. Hopefully most of them will nest again this year.
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Nice tips, I think I just need to make more effort and learn to identify the different animals.
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Posted some pics over in this thread (http://www.ni-wild.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2038.msg20728#msg20728), never been soo happy to see a slimy slug digging about in the ash :)
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I took this picture on Sunday. Pretty much everything that looks black in the picture is burnt.
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2082/5791290113_fdcbf94f9f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/whorya/5791290113/)