2020 County Report for East Donegal

Oisín Duffy and Mairéad Duffy

VCR Report for East Donegal (H34) 2020

Unfortunately very little recording occurred in East Donegal during 2020 due to the Covid-19 restrictions and also due to the fact that we are no longer located in the county.

We had one planned botanical field-outing for Murvagh in the South of the county, which was unfortunately not able to go ahead. However, a brief visit was paid to the site in early August in which Hypopitys Monotropa was recorded. This is the first time seeing this species in this area since our last Murvagh field-outing in 2017.  A number of other nice finds were recorded during the brief visit, including Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. maritima, Ophioglossum vulgatum, a prostrate form of Equisetum variegatum and my own personal favourite flower Parnassia palustris.

While we hope there will be some more recording in 2021 and potentially get to host a field-outing, it will very much depend on any restrictions to travel. The field-outing in 2021 will be at the same location planned for 2020, Murvagh. This site has a number of interesting and rare species (some listed above) and it is hoped that the field-outing will produce a full list for the site for post 2020 records.