BALLYKINLER Training and Range Complex — there can’t be much wildlife there, surely? All those bangs, explosions and people running all over the place, they’ve probably wiped it all out.
Think again — there’s more conservation management going on at Ballykinler than you can shake a stick at. I spend an awful lot of time banging on about how good Murlough NNR is and put simply Ballykinler is its sister site – they’re actually one and the same, part of the same extended sand dune system. One wouldn’t exist without the other.
Just like Murlough the dunes at Ballykinler are in an Special Area of Conservation (SAC) which is also an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) and lies within the boundary of the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). These designations don’t come along just for the sake of it — there has to be a reason for designating a site and Ballykinler sits side by side in importance with many of our most notable wildlife sites in Northern Ireland.
There is a lot more conservation carried out by the Ministry of Defence in Ballykinler via their conservation group than most people give them credit for. This has been shown time and again in Great Britain and it’s proving to be the same case here.
A substantial amount of time and effort has been spent at Ballykinler through partnership and input from a variety of organisations such as the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Ulster Wildlife, National Trust and Butterfly Conservation Great efforts have gone into making Ballykinler an example of best practice in terms of conservation on an active working site.
Of course, it helps that there is the habitat there in the first place to support a broad range of species groups — birds, bats, seals, moths, butterflies, plants, mosses and beetles — and in each of these key groups important examples can be found of populations that depend on sensitive conservation management.
Upcoming enhancement projects include the opening of a path through to the beach for local Ballykinler residents under a permissive access scheme. Old Second World War pillboxes are being converted into homes for wildlife providing both bat roosts and breeding sites for summer migrants such as swallows.
A grazing regime is in place, using traditional breeds of cattle, that is seeing a reduction in rank grassland which allows conditions suitable for a range of breeding bird species such as Meadow Pipit and by definition for cuckoos.
Scrub and bracken control is being carried out that will re-create a mosaic of habitats appropriate for a range of invertebrates that will provide food for key breeding species such as skylark, stonechat, linnet and reed bunting.
Direct action is being taken to halt the decline in barn owl numbers, a species threatened with extinction in Northern Ireland, with the provision of a dozen additional nesting sites within the estate.
Surveys of birds, bats and moths are currently being commissioned as well as the future establishment of additional species-rich grassland habitat under the Jubilee Meadows project.
If you’re looking for seals in the local area you’ll notice that a) you’re probably looking at them from Murlough and b) they’re all on the Ballykinler side due to the lack of disturbance — seals aren’t stupid.
The same goes for the thousands of wading birds, gulls and terns that decide to spend their time at Ballykinler at high tide. It may seem counterintuitive but Ballykinler Army Camp provides a haven and refuge for some of the most threatened species in the British Isles.
Just imagine what an impoverished state bio-diversity would be in, locally and nationally, if this site was covered wall-to-wall in pines, or perhaps a housing estate, and you’d realise how much poorer we’d all be for it.