Launch of the Burren Botany Bubble

Later this month, Ireland's National Heritage Week takes place and it's gratifying to see how much botany there is in the programme. 

These pages have already reported on the various events commemorating Ellen Hutchins, Ireland's first female botanist, but Heritage Week isn't just about looking backwards! 

So it was great to hear from Mary Bermingham at the Burren Nature Sanctuary in Kinvara, Co. Galway, about the recently-opened 'Burren Bubble' which is being officially launched during National Heritage Week. 

Mary says: "The Burren Nature Sanctuary is the interpretive centre for the natural history of the Burren. We have a unique location with five Burren habitats- pavement, orchid-rich grassland, hazel scrub, ash forest and a tidal turlough (fresh water that disappears twice every 24 hours). 

"The carefully designed paths around the habitats show the visitor, who may be casually interested in the Burren botany, many of the Burren plants in situ as an alternative to walking across fragile pavement on the Burren in search of, for example, the famous Gentiana verna (Spring Gentian).

"We are a new visitor centre (open since 2013 and fund aided by Galway Rural Development) and have won awards for 'Leave no Trace' and Visitor Interpretation with the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark in 2014.

"We have just opened the 'Burren Bubble' which contains the National Collection of Burren Flora, which is being developed at the Burren Nature Sanctuary with Botanical Gardens Conservation International following the International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation as an educational resource and plant bank for conservation".

Mary invites botanists living in or visiting the Burren to drop in to the Burren Nature Sanctuary and see the Burren Bubble for themselves. Find out more here.