nature reserves around south antrim

Randalstown Forest and Farr's Bay are two small adjacent nature reserves on the north shore of Lough Neagh. The shoreline here is part of a much larger wildfowl refuge that extends from the River Sixmilewater in the east to Blackrock Bay in the west. The area is not typical of most of the Lough Neagh shoreline as it is not grazed by cattle and is therefore heavily wooded. Parts of the wood are dry with ash, hawthorn and blackthorn but other parts are very wet with alder and willow trees. Rar...

Rea's Wood stretches for one mile along the shores of Lough Neagh and is a fine example of a wet woodland, dominated by alder, willow and birch trees. The Lough level has been lowered several times and the woodland now straddles parallel sand bars with wet peaty hollows in between that were once part of the lake bed. The luxuriantly vegetated woodland floor provides ideal habitat not only for many plants but also for many rare invertebrates including snails, slugs, horseflies and beetles. So...

About 80 of the Islands in Lough Neagh are managed as part of the Lough Neagh National Nature Reserve. Populations of breeding birds are monitored every year. On the islands as a whole about 500 pairs of mallard, 300 tufted duck, 500 great crested grebes, 30,000 black-headed gulls, 150 common terns and 60 mute swans nest. Islands are essential to provide secure nesting sites for many species of wetland birds as they provide safety and seclusion from predators such as foxes, rats and mink and...