Be in love with Connemara National Park

In County Galway, West of Ireland is the home of one of Ireland's national parks - the Connemara National Park. It is one of Ireland's six national parks preserved and supervised by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and the government's local units and has been founded and opened to the public since 1980. It boasts its beautiful and scenic mountain and mountain ranges, stretches of swamps and marshlands, heaths, grasslands and woodlands.

The famous Beanna Beola range includes Connemara's mountains such as Benbaun, Bencullagh, Benbrack and Muckanaght. On the Clifden side of Letterfrack is the entrance to the park. The Connemara National Park became one of the first sanctuaries of ancient human civilizations as illustrated by the evidences of a 19th century graveyard and megalithic (part of the Stone Age) court tombs believed to have been about 4000 years old.

Connemara National Park's most common vegetation includes the western blanket bogs and the heathlands. These blanket bogs are found within the dry mountain atmosphere while the boglands are located in low and moist environments. The colorful landscapes around the country side are due to the purple moorgrass which is the most abundant plant that can be found in the park. The park also features some carnivorous plants like the sundew and butterworts trap. The role of these plants is to help in maintaining the park's ecosystem or ecological balance. Much of the plants get energy from eating and digesting insects since the bogs contain little nutrients to nourish them all.

The park is also famous for its diverse species of birds like the wrens, robins, stonechats, skylarks, chaffinches and meadow pipits which are the common singing birds. The kestrel and the Eurasian Sparrowhawk are some of the native birds of prey that can also be found in the park together with the merlin and peregrine but are only seldom seen. Migratory birds like the starling, song and mistle thrush, snipe, woodcock fieldfare, and redwing also come to Connemara during winter.

Recommended activities for the park include hiking, exploring the wild life, and mountain slope and bogland sight-seeing. One may choose to hike up the various and captivating peaks and mountain ranges and have a different look at the plains from the top; observe the rare animals and plants inhabiting the area along with their peculiar and interesting interaction; or simply enjoy the view of a wonderful wonder of nature.