Port Ban, Co. Cork

Photo: Hen Harrier by Mike Brown

Port Bán is a 13 acre site made up of a patchwork of different habitats running along the banks of the river Toon.  An area of cutover bog and heath gives way to a band of wet-woodland that runs parallel to the river Toon.  Between the woodland and the river lies a narrow secluded corridor of wet grassland grazed by the local deer population.  The reserve has a variety of habitats for the ‘Atlantic’ flora of the Irish west coast, particularly the Lusitanian plants, Irish Spurge, St Patrick’s cabbage and large-flowered Butterwort.  The animal life recorded includes badger, fox, hedgehog, stoat and shrew.  A diverse birdlife is present: birds of prey such as sparowhawk and hen harrier hunt on this reserve while kingfisher, dipper and heron use the river.

The river itself is lined with a thin border of riparian woodland and is the home of the highly endangered freshwater pearl mussel.