County Monaghan

County Monaghan is one of three counties situated in the province of Ulster which are in the Republic of Ireland. The name comes from the Irish, derived from Muine Cheain meaning the Land of the little hills. This name refers to the density of drumlins in the area; those small hills formed from glacial action (during a previous ice age). The county borders County Tyrone (NI) to the north, County Armagh (NI) to the east, County Louth to the southeast, County Meath to the south, County Cavan to the southwest and County Fermanagh (NI) to the west. One of the Republic’s smaller counties, it covers just 1,295 km² (500 square miles) with a population of around 66,000 people. Monaghan is the principal town. Other major towns include Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, and Clones.

There are several mountains in the county: Mullyash Mountain, Slieve Beagh (on the border with Tyrone and Fermanagh) and Coolberrin Hill (214 m). There are also a large number of lakes, including Lough Egish, Lough Fea, Muckno Lough, Lough Avaghon, Inner Lough (in Dartrey Forest), Drumlona Lough, White Lough and Emy Lough.

Rivers in Monaghan include the river Fane (in the southeast of the county and along the border with Louth), river Glyde (along the Louth and Meath borders), the river Blackwater (along the border with Tyrone, Northern Ireland) and Dromore river (along the border of Cavan, linking Cootehill to Ballybay).

Ulster Canal – ©Brian Lenehan / Ulster Canal, Clones Road, Monaghan

Monaghan also has a number of forests, including Rossmore Forest, Dartrey Forest and Dún na Rí Forest Park; the majority of trees are conifers. Due to a long history of intensive farming practices and recent intensive forestry practices only small pockets of native woodland remain.

Birding County Monaghan

Part of Slieve Beagh extends into the count with its upland heath, lakes, ponds and blanket bogs which hold the usual species at the usual relatively low densities, including Grouse and Curlew. Whooper Swan overwinter and Hen Harrier still breed here.

Kilroosky Lough Cluster is the only SAC in the county. It straddles the border with Northern Ireland, and is located approximately 2 km north-west of Clones, Co. Monaghan. The site consists of three separate areas which contain several calcium-rich, clear-water lakes and their reeds and marginal vegetation and surrounding fen and freshwater marsh. The lough cluster includes Kilroosky, Burdautien, Summerhill and Dummy’s Loughs, which are of interest for their classic marl lake water chemistry and extensive calcicole plant communities.

Rossmore Forest Park – ©Walking with a phone CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

While Rossmore Forest Park is a leisure facility with rhododendron and conifers unsuitable for many species it does have wilder, less-visited areas and a range of avifauna in the woodland, lake and parkland. It attracts overwintering wildfowl as well as common summer visitors and year-round residents.