This field trip will visit the Correl Glen, one of the best temperate rain forests in the North of Ireland where we will see both Tunbridge and Wilson’s Filmy-ferns Hymenophyllum tunbrigense and H. wilsonii, Hay-scented Buckler-fern Dryopteris aemula and oak trees covered in mosses and Polypody ferns. We will then visit some north facing sandstone scarps in Lough Navar Forest where we will see Shade Horsetail Equisetum pratense, One-sided Wintergreen Orthilia secunda, Green Spleenwort Asplenium viride, Brittle Bladder-fern Cystopteris fragilis and Blue Moor-grass Sesleria caerulea, a speciality of western Ireland and the Yorkshire Dales. We should also come across Cowberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea and Lesser Twayblade Neottia/Listera cordata.

This field trip is suitable for improver and experienced botanists who are relatively fit and agile and, due to the sensitive nature of the habitat, is limited to ten people.

Meet at the car park at the entrance to Lough Navar Forest Park (GR H074547) at 10.30. We should finish by 4.00.

Bring packed lunches and be prepared for wet weather, steep slopes and very rough ground.

There are no toilets at the site.