EnglishLough Neagh Partnership—our work on the lough 14th JANUARY 2025
Alan Aitken deputising for our chairperson Ernie Hunter asked Claire Hassan to introduce our speaker, Ciara Laverty . After graduating from the University of Cumbria, Ciara obtained a Masters in Ecological Management from QUB .Ciara is now the Ranger at Lough Neagh. She also has just obtained her Bird Ringing licence .
The Lough Neagh Partnership was founded in 2003 to help manage and protect Lough Neagh. With only 9 staff the partnership board is made up of elected representatives, landowners, farmers, fishermen and local communities. Lough Neagh is a Ramsar site which means it is a wetland of international importance designated under the Ramsar Convention. It’s a place of scientific interest, a special protection area and a National Nature Reserve.
Ciara and her co-worker do a variety of work depending on the seasons. In winter each month they do a wetland bird count or WEBS as it is called. In February they are busy with heron counts at places like Rams Island. They look for evidence of nesting such as broken eggshells and white droppings found on tree bark and on the ground. Summer is taken up with carrying out Flash Surveys i.e. bringing a boat close to an island and scaring the birds off the nests so that they can be counted. Brockish Island had 1680 birds in 2023- 2024 .In 2023 they had a population of 300 black headed gulls. In 2024 this was reduced to 10 .The cause for this may have been due to avian flu or the arrival of lesser black back gulls.
In 2021 they received funding to repair their Torpedo Platform which is a site for breeding Common terns and Black headed gulls . A new chick barrier was installed, a new ladder and signage added, new tern shelters made, and a live stream camera installed. This camera is solar powered. The public can watch what is happening on this platform by tuning on to ’Lough Neagh Terns’ on U tube.
2021 also saw the Partnership looking after land at Killycolpy and Killywoolaghan. These lands consist of woodland and a mixture of shrubland and reed beds . With funding they were able to fence off the land and put cattle on it to crop the vegetation. So far, the results have been promising and they hope to lease more lands in the future.
They have a twenty-year lease on lands at Derrytresk and Derrylaughan comprising 300 acres of lowland bog. They hope to restore the peatlands . At the moment there is a lot of peat extraction done both legally and illegally. It is home to 5-7 breeding curlews. Predators like foxes, mink and hooded crows are controlled to protect these birds. In 2024 a curlew nest with 3 eggs was found and this was protected by an electric fence. The eggs hatched and the chicks moved with their parent from the safety of the fenced area. Unfortunately, they is no evidence that the chicks successfully fledged. Habitat loss is another major threat to curlews and other birds like the lapwing. The draining and clearing of peat is very harmful and the group hope the government will take some action to prevent this.
To raise awareness and generate more conservation the group are eager to provide better opportunities for the public to enjoy wildlife. Bird hides are one way of enjoying wildlife and the group have obtained permission to erect seven hides complete with green living roofs, bird boxes , wild bees and invertebrates’ habitats. They now need funding to build them. The Battery is one spot chosen for this. A short film called “Life on the Lough” has been produced and a book has been written about the Lough underlying its history, folklore, flora and fauna. This is available from Amazon and Waterstones.
At a meeting between the partnership and wildfowlers the plight of the diving ducks, some like the golden-eye and the scaup on the Amber list was discussed. In 2025 they told the wildfowlers that they hoped to start tagging the lesser black back gulls and placing cameras near to duck nests to see if these gulls are predating the ducks. They also suggested having ‘no shoot areas’ for the ducks .
Ciara then spoke on the Killycolpy Ringing Group of which she is a member Ringing involves catching birds with a fine mist net and placing a light aluminium ring on to the bird’s leg. After one hundred years this is still an important scientific instrument to obtain data. From May to September, the bird ringers visit the same area twelve times. Oxford Island and Portmore are two other areas where this takes place. In 2023 results showed that 288 birds were caught and of these 21species the most common was the sedge warbler. In 2024, 259 birds were caught and of these 21 species the sedge warbler was again the most common.
To finish her talk Ciara spoke on the Blue green algae crisis in lough Neagh. Why this has occurred may be because of farm affluent, sceptic tanks run off, poor water treatment ,weather patterns and zebra mussels The EFS is a farm scheme which helps farmers do management schemes . Potential solutions for the problem are the following: reducing livestock, planting trees along rivers to stop nutrients from entering the water, reducing phosphorous, better water treatments and having an integrated government body. An action plan is now released by the agriculture minister comprising education enforcement regulation, investments and innovation i.e. using slurry to produce green energy, bigger fines for polluters and more water quality inspectors.
Questions were then asked by our members, and Claire gave the vote of thanks . The meeting ended with a light supper.
Summary written by Maureen Graham Hon Secretary