There are numerous quarries and old industrial sites across the Belfast Hills. Many of these sites have naturally regenerated and are rich in biodiversity. However others are overgrown with scrub, have grasslands that are rank due to lack of cutting or grazing, have invasive species or draining problems. Other active industrial sites also exist in the Belfast Hills providing an opportunity to work with site managers to initiate improvements […]
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On the edge of the urban fringe, the Belfast Hills are all too often the victim of malicious wildfires, particularly in its areas of upland heath. It is known that these are generally carried out by young people, with numbers of fires peaking during school holidays. BHP currently maps the larger wildfires in the Belfast Hills providing some baseline data on previous fires, however we would be keen to […]
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Large parts of the Belfast Hills are made up of privately owned agricultural land (approx 65%). Farming is essential to maintain this landscape and conserve the biodiversity of the Belfast Hills. Despite difficult times for agriculture, we need farmers and landowners to maintain the correct levels of grazing and management to preserve the landscape of the hills. Due to the general decline in farming in the current economic climate, […]
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Unfortunately there are known to be high levels of invasive species in the Belfast Hills. This may in part be due to flytipping and also the number of landfill sites dotted across the hills, both legal and illegal. Such sites often have associated invasive species due to cutting/vegetation present in the dumped material. River corridors can provide the perfect habitat for invasive species to spread. Within the Belfast Hills Japanese […]
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The Belfast Hills have a rich history; the evidence of such may be seen by the remains left in the landscape. Much of this history is as yet undiscovered. When the National Trust bought the Divis and Black Mountain site in 2004 only one historic monument/feature was identified, to date 223 have now been uncovered. This provides a taster for what else must be out there in similar surrounding hill […]
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A number of training courses are planned that will provide a sound background to undertaking practical environmental management, these include biological surveying techniques, Policy & Climate change, conservation skills, GIS/GPS training, bush craft and walking in the hills training. The Belfast Hills varied habitats provide a refuge to many different species, including a number of NI priority species that have been identified as needing special protection. Their location close […]
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Generally schemes are put together with very specific aims and objectives. Through this programme we want to empower the young people to come up with their own project ideas based on what is important to them. We what to enable them to tell us what should be done. Ideally we want simply to support them as they apply for match funding, manage budgets and timescales, people involved etc. We would […]
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