Monawilkin


Monawilkin is a townland in the West Fermanagh Scarplands in the Civil Parish of Inishmacsaint, Barony of Magheraboy, Northern Ireland. The townland has an area of and has previously been referred to as Meenwilkin and Munadh Wilkin. Monawilkin is the best example of unimproved calcareous grassland in Northern Ireland. This differs from other Sesleria-dominated grasslands in the UK in that it also includes species such as Euphrasia salisburgensis. Monawilikin is also an important orchid site, contains the best inland site for moths and butterflies in Northern Ireland, and is the only Northern Irish site for Cupido minimus, the small blue butterfly. Consequently, this area was designated as a special area of conservation and area of special scientific interest. The Monawilkin SAC land cover comprises 3% water bodies, 5% bogs, marshes, and fringe water vegetation, 13% heath and scrub, 50% dry grassland, 14% humid grassland, and 15% broad-leaved woodland.

Flora

The diversity of floristic communities of Monawilikin is a product of its limestone and at some points sandstone substrata. Typical plant species recorded in the calcareous grassland are kidney vetch, crested hair-grass, and wild thyme, alongside more locally distributed species such as Irish eyebright and blue moor-grass. Monawilkin has been listed for 24 vascular plants in the register of scarce or rare and extinct vascular plants. The scarce or rare plants are listed with their botanical name, their common name, and then the date they were last recorded: Botrychium lunaria, Juniperus communis,, Saxifraga hypnoides, Rubus botryeros, Lythrum portula, Primula veris, Gentianella amarelle, Gentianella campestris, Plantago maritima, Euphrasia salisburgensis, Potamogeton praelongus, Potamogeton x salicifolius, Neottia nidus-avis, Platanthera bifolia, Platanthera chlorantha, Pseudorchis albida, Coeloglossum viride, Dactylorhiza incarnata ssp pulchella, Ophrys apifera, Carex distans, Agrostis vinealis, Bromus racemosus, Inula helenium, and Doronicum pardalianches Vascular species found in Monawilin on the Northern Ireland priority species list include Euphrasia salisburgensis and Juniperus communis. Those plants mentioned in the Irish Red Data Book include Gentianella campestris, Pseudorchis albida, Neottia nidus-avis, and Ophrys apifera.
The site also contains a patchwork of habitat types such as hazel scrub; oak, birch, and holly woodland; calcareous fen ; and acid grassland heath on sandstone. Consequently, there are many pronounced vegetation transitions from acidic to alkaline and from dry to wet.

Fauna

The townland is also a habitat for Hemaris tityus, the daylight-flying narrow-bordered bee hawk-moth, Trichiura crataegi, the pale eggar moth, and Eulamprotes unicolorella, the twirling moth.