2022 County Report for Fermanagh

Robert Northridge

We (my wife, Hannah, and I) spent the season visiting or revisiting sites to find or refind species of interest. It was a good season for Neotinea intacta (Dense-flowered Orchid) but a poor one for Pseudorchis albida (Small-white Mountain-orchid). A spike of Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid) was found on amenity grassland within Enniskillen but was mown down by council workers in their efforts to make the town look tidy. We found several new sites for Gentianella campestris (Field Gentian) including one in Co. Cavan which added the species to the ones found in that county (H30).
Two unwelcome finds in the Erne were Nymphoides peltata (Fringed Water-lily) and Azolla filiculoides which is abundant around Enniskillen.
We spent three days leading botanical trips with employees of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency; they proved of benefit to both the NIEA botanists and ourselves.