Four Roads Turlough

The Four Roads Turlough (Irish: Turlach Thigh Srathra) Special Area of Conservation (or SAC) is a Natura 2000 site based at the village of Four Roads, Ireland, close to Roscommon town, in County Roscommon, Ireland. The Four Roads Turlough is one of a number of seasonal lakes, or turloughs, found in the karst areas of Ireland, west of the River Shannon.

Location
The Four Roads Turlough SAC is located south-west of the village of Four Roads, Ireland, near to Roscommon town, the county town of County Roscommon. It is situated approximately 2.5 km from the River Suck, in the townlands of Carroward, Cloghan and Cloonlaughnan. The area of the site is noted as consisting of 100.18 hectares in the National Parks and Wildlife Service (or NPWS) in the Statutory Instrument for the site: S.I. No. 451/2017- European Union Habitats (Four Roads Turlough Special Area of Conservation 001637) Regulations 2017. Several other turloughs designated as Special Areas of Conservation also occur in this karst area, such as Lough Croan Turlough, Lough Funshinagh, Lisduff Turlough and Ballinturly Turlough. The N65 Road runs near to this site at Mount Talbot.

SAC qualification
The qualifying interest by which this site is protected as an SAC is the presence of a specific priority habitat type: Turloughs are included as SACs because of their high nature and conservation value. They include populations of birds, plants and invertebrates which are of ecological interest. The site is situated in a karst region which includes several turloughs. The Four Roads Turlough is one of 45 turloughs with various ecological and hydrogeological features which have been included as SACs in Ireland under the qualification of the European Habitats Directive Annex 1 priority feature of Turloughs (habitat code 3180). The majority of SAC-designated turloughs in Europe are in Ireland– of 75 turloughs designated as SACs in Europe, 45 are in Ireland. Of the other turlough sites designated as SACS in Europe, 14 are in Germany, 8 are in Estonia, 3 are in Croatia and 4 are in Slovenia.
 * Turloughs (Habitat code 3180)

The Four Roads Turlough SAC is situated under a low bank of limestone hills. This turlough is a shallow basin. The NPWS site synopsis notes that it does not include permanent standing water, and has a predictable pattern of flooding.

The conservation objectives for this SAC include to maintain or increase the area of the turlough site at approximately 72 hectares, to maintain or restore the hydrogeological regime in order to support the turlough habitat, to maintain or restore soil nutrient status regarding nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil, to maintain active peat formation, to restore sensitive and high conservation value vegetation and to restore typical turlough species.

The Four Roads site was proposed as a Site of Community Importance (SCI) in May 1998 and designated as a Natura 2000 site in October 2017 under the Habitats Directive. Statutory Instrument No. 451 of 2017, which established this site as an SAC (Site code: 0001637), was published on 20 October 2017.

Turlough water levels
Monitoring of groundwater/flood levels was carried out at the Four Roads Turlough SAC from 2016 to 2019 by Geological Survey Ireland to establish baseline data for the flooding patterns on selected turloughs. Peak flood levels were noted at this site on the 18 February 2018 at 48.72 mAOD with a maximum depth of 1.04 metres, over a maximum area of 521,051 metres squared. decrease Increases in water levels occurred between September 2017 and May 2018, and again between December 2018 and May 2019, with irregular peaks within those periods. The water levels dropped between April 2017 and September 2017, and again from June 2018 to December 2018. The lowest water depth/stage was recorded at approximately 47.75 mAOD (meters above ordinance datum: meters above sea level, Malin Head datum) in 2017.

Flora
According to the NPWS site synopsis, the flora at the east side of the turlough consist of predominantly species of grass, such as Creeping Bent (Agrostis stolonifera). At the western edge of the site, sedges are more common, including Common Sedge (Carex nigra). Bottle Sedge (Carex rostrata) and Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) are to be found in some low-lying areas. Thread-leaved Water-crowfoot (Ranunculus trichophyllus), Lesser Water-plantain (Baldellia ranunculoides) and Lesser Marshwort (Apium inundatum or Helosciadium inundatum) occur in pools at this site. Oligotrophic fen vegetation is not found at this site. Only a very few examples of Black Bog-rush (Schoenus nigricans) occur here. The site includes some tree stumps. The soil in this SAC is peaty.

Birdlife
As well as being an SAC, this site is also a significant area for wildfowl and includes ten species of birds protected under the Birds Directive. The bird species with protected status occurring at this site are: Northern Pintail (Anas acuta), Shoveler (Anas clypeata), Teal (Anas crecca), Wigeon (Anas penelope), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), White-fronted Goose (Greenland subspecies) (Anser albifrons flavirostris), Bewick's swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii), Curlew (Numenius arquata), Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria) and Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus). The Four Roads Turlough is a significant feeding site and refuge for overwintering wildfowl. The River Suck has a specific population of Greenland White-fronted Goose, which frequently use the Four Roads SAC – according to the NPWS site synopsis, this can be up to 500 individuals. Approximately 2,600 wildfowl and 8,000 waders also use this significant site. The site notes several historical counts over different time periods:

"'Except where indicated, the following numbers are the average of 11 counts over 3 seasons, 1984/85-1986/87: Wigeon (983), Teal (870), Shoveler (81), Bewick's Swan (21), Greenland White-fronted Goose (177, one count in 1987/88), Mallard (235), Pintail (40), Golden Plover (317), Lapwing (473) and Curlew (103). A single count on January 17, 1988 emphasises the importance of assessing bird populations of turloughs based on as large a series of counts as possible - present on that date were 3,600 Wigeon, 2,500 Teal, 177 Greenland White-fronted Goose and 2,900 Lapwing. The site is also used by Whooper Swan (recent count of 60) and breeding Lapwing, Redshank and Snipe. Several of these species are listed in the Red Data Book and on Annex I of the E.U. Birds Directive.'"

Other protected site designations
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has included the Four Roads Turlough site as a proposed Natural Heritage Area or pNHA. In close proximity to this site, Lough Croan Turlough and Lough Funshinagh SACs have also been included as pNHAs.

Under the terms of the European Union's Birds Directive (2009/147/EC), Ireland has designated a range of sites as Special Protection Areas to protect rare, vulnerable, or migrant bird species and to protect wetlands. As a valuable ornithological site, the Four Roads Turlough SAC is designated as a Special Protection Area, under the qualifying interests of: Data for the current state of the sites and special conservation interests of the site are provided by the NPWS.
 * Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria) [code A140]
 * Greenland White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons flavirostris) [code A395]
 * Wetland and Waterbirds [code A999]

History
At the edge of the Four Roads Turlough SAC in the townland of Cloughan, Four Roads, are the remains of a 16th-century tower house. The National Monuments records this as monument RO044-055001- and describes its as having probably been constructed by a family called the Kellys in the 16th century. The tower has a Sheela na gig quoinstone (monument code: RO044-055002-) at the second floor level.