Orchid Ireland Survey 2014

With support from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the National Museum and Galleries of Northern Ireland appointed contractors to conduct surveys of wild orchid populations in Ireland as part of the Orchid Ireland project. The focus of the project in 2014 was on the recording of orchid populations in Republic of Ireland sites holding areas of the Annex I habitat 6210 Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates (Festuco-Brometalia) (* important orchid sites) as listed under the E.U. Habitats Directive. The data gathered was to be utilised to inform the next Article 17 assessment of the habitat. Twenty-five sites were selected for field surveys, the majority (20) deriving from Table 31 of The Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey [ISGS] 2007-2012. Irish Wildlife Manuals No. 78, which is a list of sites holding areas of the Annex I habitat 6210 considered by the authors of that report to be potentially the orchid-rich (priority) version of this habitat. The field surveys recorded the numbers and locations of orchid species occurring at the selected sites. Notes on the 2014 presence, extent and conservation status (impacts/pressures/threats) of habitat 6210 were recorded for each site surveyed and assessments of the conservation value, habitat condition, management and orchid-richness of each were undertaken. The project report details the work undertaken and the results of the assessments and an ArcMap shapefile holds details of the orchid species recorded at each of the surveyed sites.