Ariundle Oakwood National Nature Reserve

This now-peaceful woodland is a rare surviving fragment of the native oak woods that once spread along the Atlantic coast from Spain to Norway. Ariundle is a treasure house of primitive plants with a huge diversity of mosses, lichens, liverworts and ferns growing over the damp woodland floor. These are fascinating reminders of some of the earliest forms of vegetation on Earth. The woodland is also home to rare and beautiful butterflies and dragonflies.