A Rarity in the Heart of the Glens

For the past few months I have been searching for one of the lesser known specialities of North Antrim. Only known from one small area, of one woodland in the county I had to do a bit of looking, but finally I have found it.

The Tunbridge Filmy Fern is very small (only about 5cm long) looking more like a liverwort, they are found on damp boulders in a small area of woodland and this is the only site the whole of the east of Northern Ireland. There are also a couple of sites for this species in County Fermanagh in the south west. The leaves are translucent being only one cell thick and are very similar looking to the slightly less rare Wilson's Filmy Fern which I am still looking for.

I literally stumbled upon it few weeks ago when I was just about to give up - there's a lot of woodland and a lot of large boulders to check! Thye may not the most exciting organism out there but I reckon they are beautiful little plants and worth the search.