Of the two, Annagarriff is thought to be home to the only colony of Scottish wood ants in Ireland.

These include Pardosa lugubris, a species of wolf spider first found in the UK in 2000 at Abernethy Forest nature reserve, and the Scottish Wood Ant.

In addition to the Scottish Wood Ant, several Scottish species of invertebrate exist that are otherwise rare in the UK and important enough to have a specific "Action Plan" to provide protection.