Slievecallan is a mountain 391 metres high. It is the third highest mountain in County Clare

County Clare

-History:There was a Neolithic civilisation in the Clare area — the name of the peoples is unknown, but the Prehistoric peoples left evidence behind in the form of ancient dolmen; single-chamber megalithic tombs, usually consisting of three or more upright stones...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

The mountain sits more or less in the centre of the triangle formed by the villages of Miltown Malbay

Miltown Malbay

Spanish Point Airfield is an privately owned airfield between Milltown Malbay and Spanish Point. The airfield, located on Sandhill Road in the townland Leagard South, was established by three local pilots in 1991, and the original clubhouse was opened by then Irish Minister for Defense Mr...

, Inagh

Inagh

Inagh is a village located 14 km west of Ennis in County Clare, Ireland. It comprises seven townlands lying north-east of Mount Callan. The village is situated on the N85, Ennis - Ennistymon / Lahinch road, making Inagh a popular tourist route serving north and west Clare.Inagh has seen some...

 and Connolly

Connolly, County Clare

Connolly is a small village located in west County Clare, Ireland. It is 14 kilometers west south west of Ennis.-References:...

, in the west of County Clare. The regional road R474 (Ennis

Ennis

Ennis is the county town of Clare in Ireland. Situated on the River Fergus, it lies north of Limerick and south of Galway. Its name is a shortening of the original ....

 - Connoly - Miltown Malbay), passes on the southernside of the mountain. The R460 (Miltown Malbay - Inagh/N85

N85 road (Ireland)

The N85 road is a national secondary road in Ireland connecting Ennis and Ennistymon. The route connects to the M18 Ennis bypass and forms part of the Ennis outer ring road as the "N85 Western Relief Road". From Ennis the route continues in a north - west direction and terminates at the junction...

 passes in the northern side.

Slievecallan has a wet oceanic climate with an average annual rainfall of 2,000 mm and high average wind speeds. Most likely this is caused by the proximity of the ocean (just 8 kilometres away) and its prominece

Topographic prominence

In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height, shoulder drop , or prime factor , categorizes the height of the mountain's or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit...

 in the landscape. In geological view the soils are a mixture of mixture of peat

Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...

, peaty gley and gley soil

Gley soil

Gley soil in soil science is a type of hydric soil which exhibits a greenish-blue-grey soil color due to wetland conditions. On exposure to the air, gley colors are transformed to a mottled pattern of reddish, yellow or orange patches. During gley soil formation , the oxygen supply in the soil...

s over horizontal layers of
carboniferous

Carboniferous

The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...

 shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

, sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

, and mudstone

Mudstone

Mudstone is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the...

. The soil is relatively poor in nutrients.

Without human interference the natural vegetation of this area would consist of ash

Wood ash

Wood ash is the residue powder left after the combustion of wood. Main producers of wood ash are wood industries and power plants.-Composition:...

 (Fraxinus excelsior) forest in alkaline areas. Hazel

Hazel

The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...

 (Corylus avellana) and oak

Oak

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...

(Quercus petraea) woods would be prominent in the more acidic areas. Nowadays (2010) most of the land surrounding Slieve Callan is heathland, forestry and pasture. The forestry are mainly plantations of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis)