Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. Images are beautiful bright and vivid. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> Nestling against the Atlantic shores of southwest Ireland The Burren covers most of northwest County Clare and just the southwest corner of County Galway. There the limestone that makes up much of Ireland was scraped clear of soil by glaciers during the last Ice Age. Large areas of exposed limestone have been beaten by rain for the fifteen millennia since the ice began its retreat and water trickling down the gentle slopes has cut deep channels in the soft rock carving it up into pavement slabs (referred to as clints). Some of the channels known variously as grikes or grykes (the Irish word is scailps) are deep enough to bury a man standing up – but only a thin man. The shallow layer of soil that has built up in these channels favours small plants rather than deeper-rooting rank vegetation – hence David has been able to move in without serious hassle from Goliath. Elsewhere in The Burren you will find coastal cliffs and sand dunes meadows and scrub woodland and heath bogs and small streams – some above ground and others in cave systems deep down beneath the limestone surface. And there are loughs Dome permanent (although the water level drops dramatically in summer) and others seasonal. Lowland areas that fill with freshwater from winter rain only to dry out again during the summer months are called turloughs; of these The Burren has many notably on its eastern side. Turloughs are home to some fascinating plants that can survive total submersion for half of each year. (LL)