The Burren

The Burren is one of those rare and magical places where geology, glacial history, botany, zoology and millennia of cultural history have converged to create a unique landscape of extraordinary natural history interest. It is without equal to any other area in Ireland or Britain.To the unsuspecting tourist, much of the landscape of the Burren looks bleak, rocky, and inhospitable for any sort of farming. Yet the Burren is an agricultural landscape that has been continuously farmed since the first settlers began clearing the forest cover in the Neolithic period. Today there are several hundred farms within the Burren area. Most of these families live and work there and the farmers are crucial for the Burren¿s future as an area of unique landscape and ecological interest.The area attracts any naturalist with an eye for beauty, but it is the intricacies of the species¿ ecology, their links to the soil or to a particular insect that is really fascinating. It is a veritable paradise for natu