National park of Killarney

The National park of Killarney ( National Killarney Park in English, Páirc Náisiúnta Chill Airne in Irish) is located close to Killarney, in the county of Kerry, in Ireland. It is on the road of the “Ring off Kerry”.

Presentation

The National park of Killarney is the first National park of Ireland. Covering a supreficie of 103 km, it includes the three famous Lakes Killarney and the mounts and wood which surround them. The Park includes the tops of Mangerton, Torc, Shehy and Purple Mountains and, in the west, the Macgillycuddy' S Reeks, the highest assembly line of Ireland.

In the middle of the National park is the park commemorative Bourn Vincent of 4.000 hectares, in the past Muckross Estate, which was offered at the Irish State in 1932 by Mr. and Mrs. William Bowers Bourn and their son-in-law, the senator Arthur Vincent, to make the first Irish National park of it.

These last years, the grounds, the National Forestry Commission of the old field of Kenmare were added there, in particular Knockreer, Ross Island, Innisfallen and the grounds of Glena, Ullauns and Poulagower.

In 1981, UNESCO indicated the Park like Réserve of biosphere.

Origins

The presence of the man in the area of Killarney goes back to the Bronze Age, 4.000 years ago, when copper was exploited for the first time at Ross Island. In fact the monastic foundations provide the principal proof of the human presence in the area at the beginning of the era of Christendom. Most important of these foundations is the Monastère of Inninsfallen, rested by Finian saint the Leprous one. The Yearly of Innisfallen , written in an intermittent way between XIe and XIIIe centuries, provide an important information source on the primitive history of Ireland.

After the invasion of Ireland by the Norman ones, the grounds around the lakes became the property of Mc Carthy Mor and O' Donoghe of Ross Castle. Later, these grounds fell into the hands respectively from Herbert de Muckross and the counts from Kenmare. In 1911, the field of Muckross was bought by Mr. W.B. Bourn like wedding gift for his/her daughter and her husband, Arthur Vincent.

Fauna

On the heights of the National park, in particular on the slopes of Torc and Magerton, the last herd of stags Elaphe of the country lives. The latter, counting more than 800 animals, lives here since the arrival of the species in Ireland, after the last era refrigerator. One can find the stag Japanese, or Sika, introduced in Killarney in 1865 into the mounts and the forests. Among the other species appear the reddish Campagnol, identified for the first time in Ireland in 1964.

Thanks to the variety of the landscapes, alternating mounts, Moor S, forests and lakes, the Park is rich in cash of birds. Most common on the heights Pipit meadows, the Saxicole and the Grand corbel are the . One sees at the time of the peregrine falcons and rochiers. In wood, the most current birds are the Pinson S and Rouge-gorge S. the watery habitat attracts to him-also many species: Héron S, wild ducks, Grèbe S and Râle S of water live in edge of the lakes, while martins fishing and blackbirds of water prefer the rivers to them. In summer and winter, the migratory birds come to increase the population of the local species. In wintry time, for example, a small goose flight of Greenland, whose world population is of approximately 12.000, remains in the valley of Killarney.

A natural reserve of brown trouts and Saumon S lives the lakes. In general, fishing is free, that of salmon requires a simple license. The lakes also contain Omble S, fish which usually live in the lakes subarctic, and of the Alose S of Killarney.

Flora

Inside the Park the greatest zone of natural forest of Ireland is. The forests of oaks, primarily of sessile oaks, with Houx and other evergreens in underwood, recover the red sandstone mounts. The small forest zones on the carboniferous calcareous ground, low, include/understand a forest of yews on the peninsula of Muckross, whose trees push almost with same the rock.

The oceanic Climat moderate supports the proliferation of foams and the transparent ferns, including one great number pushes on the branches and the trunks of the trees like épithytes. One also finds on the heights of the Park of the moors and the Tourbière S.

Some of the plants characteristic of the area are elsewhere only in the south and south-west of Europe: Cane-apple bush S, cabbages of Saint-Patrick and plants carnivores of the species Pinguicula will grandiflora are examples.

Remarkable sites

The National park counts among its remarkable sites:
  • Killarney
  • Ring of Kerry (Boxing ring off Kerry)
  • Ladies View
  • Muckross House
  • Abbey of Muckross
  • Ross Castle
  • Lakes Killarney
  • Purple Mountains

References

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