Nature Reserve title for Whitehead home of NI’s largest common lizard population

The borough council has made a successful application to the Council for Nation Conservation and Countryside in line with its Local Biodiversity Action Plan.

Local Nature Reserves are areas where nature and wildlife is protected. Once protected, legislation allows further bylaws to be created to protect the unique characteristics of the area.

Other nature reserves in Mid and East Antrim are located at Beach Road and Diamond Jubilee Wood in Whitehead, Bashfordsland Wood and Oakfield Glen and Mill Ponds in Carrickfergus; Chaines Wood in Ballygally, Cranny Falls, Carnlough and Straidkilly Nature Reserve in Glenarm.

In a letter to the local authority, the Council for Nature, Conservation and the Countryside said: “Members endorsed the importance of the site in terms of the species present and the geological interest and were particularly impressed by the level of community and volunteer support that the site has attracted.”

These include Blackhead Path Preservation Society, Brighter Whitehead and Whitehead Community Association.

The Northern Ireland Lizard Group says that Blackhead Path is home to the largest common lizard population in Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, conservation work including hedge-laying is to take place at Diamond Jubilee Wood at a cost of £3,000 and an ecological survey is to be carried out at Bashfordsland Wood.

Funding of £10k has been secured by the council through Lloyds which saw 3,200 trees planted at The Gobbins in Islandmagee in partnership with the Woodland Trust,

The authority has made an application to the WoodlandTrust for a £300k grant to plant four million trees across the borough during the next decade.

Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter