Glaciation of the Comeragh Mountains

Bing satellite image of the main cwms of the Comeragh Mountains

I  was contacted the other day by Mark Chapman, who showed me a video he had made in the Comeragh Mountains of County Waterford, in Southern Ireland.  Absolutely stunning landscapes, with cwms and other splendid glacial features all over the place.  This little mountain range is only 50 miles west of Rosslare, so it's really quite a near neighbour to the Preseli Hills -- the highest summit is at 792m, and there are eleven lower summits.  The summit of Preseli is at 536m  -- quite a bit lower, with no extensive plateau areas.  Maybe that explains why the two upland areas are so different; cirque glaciers tend to thrive in environments where there is abundant snowfall and also extensive plateaux across which windblown snow can move and replenish or supplement direct snowfall onto the glacier surfaces.

Anyway, it appears that very little modern work has been done in these mountains -- and I am trying to find out more.  A little trip to Ireland might be on the cards.......

The core of the mountains is protected.  On the map we can see how the cwms have developed at all points of the compass.  That's rather unusual, since in western Europe cwms facing S, SE or SW are rather rare