Growing up and going to school in Ireland, we learned about the unique and unusual plants and insects found only in the Burren in county Clare.
For example, on [Burren Beo website](https://burrenbeo.com/the-burren/natural-heritage/flora/) it says *”Though the Burren region represents less than 1% of the national land cover, the richness and diversity of the natural and cultural heritage present belies its compact size. Over 70% of Ireland’s native species of flora are found here, including 24 of the 28 native orchid species, as well as a very rich and interesting fauna.”*
Recently, there’s been growing interest in the subject of rewilding in Ireland (leaving land alone and letting nature recover). This has drawn attention to how little wilderness there is in Ireland, compared to other European countries. It got me thinking, is the Burren just a small, relatively untouched piece of land that hints toward the richness of the nature we once had? Are these “rare” “unusual” species only found in the Burren because it was one of the few places we left alone?
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Interestingly, the landscape of the Burren is not naturally occurring and is a result of clearances for agriculture during the bronze age.
If you went back 4,000 years that area would have been covered in pine and hazel forest.
Lime rich soils like the Burren tend to be quite rich in flora. We have a ton of limestone bedrock but often the soils on top are glacial till and not so rich in lime.
I would say that there are some species that are only found in the Burren as we left it alone, like the native Irish Scots Pine recently discovered there. We think pine was rather widespread until about 1500 years ago.