‘Burren transplant’ plan aims to save orchids

Around 150 Irish gardeners and conservationists are being offered a unique "Burren transplant" of orchid-rich Burren land, thanks to a groundbreaking new conservation scheme.

Two local conservation groups, the BurrenBeo Trust and Conservation Volunteers Galway, have come up with an ambitious plan to transplant large sections of this land into public and private gardens all over the country, before the extension of the M18 motorway.

The Burren is one of the world’s leading habitats for orchids. Twenty-four of the 28 species of Irish orchids all grow within the Burren, making it Ireland’s richest habitat for the rare flowers by far.

The two conservation groups are inviting applications from members of the public who wish to receive a free transplant of this unique Burren landscape. The groups are also in negotiation with a number of local authorities with a view to transplanting larger sections of the habitat into public land for conservation.

“The Burren is such an amazing habitat for orchids,” said Brigid Barry of the BurrenBeo Trust. “It contains 24 of the 28 Irish orchids and we know that the land marked for transplant contains at least 15 species, but I would suspect that there are more.

“There are basically no orchids at all in Irish grasslands. There may be swamps in parts of the country where you might find two or three species or orchids, but nothing like we have in the Burren.”

In order to obtain a free 4ft sq Burren transplant, landowners much have a suitable, free-draining limestone area which the orchid rich sod can be brought to and transplanted.

“Orchids just don’t exist outside the Burren, they just don’t,” said Peter Butler of the Galway Conservation Volunteers. “It is such an important habitat for orchids in Ireland,”

“They will not survive the construction of the motorway, that’s for sure, so this is about conserving as much as we can. But we’re not giving it away for people to put in a pot in their garden, that’s not what this is about. They will need to have suitable, free-draining, limestone ground.”

Anyone interested in obtaining a free Burren orchid transplant can contact the project by email on [e-mail] for more details.