The Gearagh

The Gearagh
Ancient oak stumps near the first bridge at the Sleaveen side of the Port road
Map
LocationCounty Cork, Ireland
Coordinates51°53′10″N 9°00′11″W / 51.886°N 9.003°W / 51.886; -9.003
Designated30 May 1990
Reference no.472[1]
Wider view

The Gearagh (Irish: An Gaorthadh)[2] is a submerged glacial woodland and nature reserve two kilometres southwest of Macroom, County Cork, in Kilmichael parish, Ireland. It is located at the point where the River Lee descends from the mountains and widens at an alluvial plain, and stretches for roughly five kilometres, bounded by the townlands of Toonsbridge, Illaunmore and Anahala.

It was until recently densely populated with ancient oak trees and the last surviving full oak forest in western Europe. Its Irish name is An Gaorthadh (meaning "the wooded river-valley" or "the river-bed"). [3] Author Seamus O'Donoghue provides another Irish name, An Gaoire, derived from the Irish word Gaorthadh.[4] The area was flooded in 1954 to facilitate the building of two hydro-electric dams in Carrigadrohid and Inniscarra, which provide electricity for the nearby city of Cork. The area is now part of the plants' upper reservoir. The development required the flooding of the region; consequently, hundreds of trees were felled and many people were relocated. Many of the trees were centuries old and had grown since the medieval period.[5] Today only their stumps survive, in flood land, giving the area a ghostly and almost lunar appearance.[4]

Today it comprises wide but shallow water enclosing a series of small islands separated by anastomosing, mostly flat, river streams.[6] It remains an area of outstanding natural beauty, with a diverse ecological system[5] and wide variety of plants, birds and fish, including freshwater pearl mussel, Atlantic salmon, whooper swans, kingfishers and otters.

It is designated a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,[7] and also enjoys international protection as an EU Special Area of Conservation of 558 ha.[8] Part of the SAC is designated a nature reserve under the Irish Wildlife Act and the reservoir is a wildfowl sanctuary.

  1. ^ "Gearagh, The". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  2. ^ "The Gearagh – Placename database of Ireland". Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  3. ^ "gaorthadh – Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (1977)". Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference s5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Wood, 136
  6. ^ "The Gearagh". University College Cork. Retrieved 1 May 2016
  7. ^ "The Gearagh". 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  8. ^ "The Gearagh (Natura 2000)" (PDF). Retrieved 14 August 2016.