2022 County Report for Co. Sligo

Eamon Gaughan

In 2022, 19,260 records for Sligo were uploaded to the database.

• April: Paul Green & I looked at the Bunduff dunes Mullaghmore to locate Viola lutea which had been recorded there. No sign of the Pansy and the record probably a misidentification. On the same day Paul confirmed Taraxacum webbii there.
• June; New hectad sites for Dryopteris aemula, Avenula pubescens, Ranunculus penicillatus, Samolus valerandii & Carex canescens.
• July: New sites for Gymnadenia spp. Zanichellia palustris, Symphytum officinale, Chaenorhinum minus and significantly the first finding of Trifolium medium north of Sligo town and the Garavogue River.
• Autumn/ early Winter: a fourth Sligo site for Epilobium pedunculare, two new sites for Equisetum variegatum and one for Equisetum X trachyodon
• I had it on my agenda this year to visit the Sligo sites for Saxifraga hirculus (see photos). Patricia McHugh and I visited the area on July 22^nd and we found the Saxifrage beginning to flower. We returned there on August 5^th with Pat Lenihan from Dublin and found two large healthy populations with many flowering stems. This was one of Sligo’s two most notable recent finds (Caoimhe Muldoon & Rory Hodd in 2012). To maximise the day, we added several other good species in the flushes which must have been seen but had not found their way into the database;
• September. A large colony of Ceratophyllum demersum seen in pond at Waterglades Garden Centre. Likely introduced but only one undated previous record for Sligo.