Drumbegger

Drumbegger is a townland situated in County Fermanagh, Fermanagh and Omagh district, Northern Ireland. It is part of the civil parish of Boho in the old barony of Magheraboy and contains the sub-townland known as Oubarraghan.
This area was designated an Area of Special Scientific Interest as a consequence of species-rich wet grassland.

Drumbegger species rich wet grassland

Habitats described as species rich wet grasslands are rare in Northern Ireland and are typically located in areas where traditional farming practices are still maintained. The meadows are categorised by botanists/ecologists as Fen-meadow, a specific type of purple moor-grass, rush pasture that is fed by a steady hydrological influence. The typical species found in Drumbegger are Devil’s-bit scabious, sharp-flowered rush, meadow thistle, lesser spearwort together with mosses such as glittering wood-moss and neat feather-moss. Drumbegger is also noteworthy as a habitat for two protected species, blue-eyed-grass and the marsh fritillary butterfly. Marsh fritillary caterpillars thrive on two plant species found in Drumbegger which are blue-eyed-grass and Devil’s-bit scabious.

Screenagh River and Arch Cave

The Screenagh river enters Drumbegger from the subtownland of Oubarraghan from the Arch Cave which is itself an outlet of a series of subterranean passages originating from Noon's Hole. The river is a tributary of the Sillees River which feeds into Lough Erne. The waterfall and the cave were described by the famous French speleologist Édouard-Alfred Martel on 14 or 15 July 1895. On this occasion he was aided by the Enniskillen archeologist Thomas Plunkett and Lyster Jameson a Dublin born naturalist. Martel correctly deduced that Noon's hole and the Arch Cave were linked by a series of underground chambers.