Glenmalure’s spectacular valley is a great place to spot wildlife. Its habitats include old woodlands, rivers, peatlands, planted forests, and cliffs, providing homes for many different plants and animals.
The world’s fastest animal, the peregrine falcon, nests on cliffs around Glenmalure and Lugnaquilla. Its shape allows it to dive at speeds of over 320 kilometres per hour when hunting prey.
In the old woodland near Glenmalure Lodge, you might hear the drumming of a great-spotted woodpecker or the screech of a jay. Woodpeckers recently returned to Ireland. As the numbers of woodpeckers in Great Britain grew, they came across the Irish Sea looking for new places to live and are now spreading across Ireland.
In the newer forests, you may find Ireland’s smallest bird, the goldcrest, weighing the same as a twenty cent coin. Mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies live in and around the Avonbeg River and provide food for fish and birds, such as the white-throated dipper.
Look for goats and deer in the valley. Sika deer were introduced to County Wicklow in the 1800s and bred with native red deer. Up towards Lugnaquilla, you will find peatland, a special habitat with species including sphagnum moss, insect-eating plants, and skylarks.
Glenmalure’s shape reminds us that glaciers once covered the area. Animals that lived in Ireland before and during the ice age included bears, hyenas, and woolly mammoths.
Citizen Science
You can help to keep Glenmalure clean by reporting any litter you see on the Litterbug and See it, Say it apps.