Ballynahone Bog (Toner, Gregory: ''Place-Names of Northern Ireland, Volume Five, County Derry I, The Moyola Valley'', page 173. The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University Belfast, 1996. ) is a raised

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

, situated in

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, about 3 km south of Maghera, on low-lying ground immediately north of the

Moyola River The River Moyola or Moyola River stretches for approximately 27 miles from the Sperrin Mountains to Lough Neagh. The Moyola starts a small river (3-5 metres; 10' to 16') for the first few miles of its length and proceeds to expand to a medium-s ...

about 14 km from its mouth at

Lough Neagh Lough Neagh ( ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake in the island of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the British Isles. It has a surface area of and supplies 40% of Northern Ireland's water. Its main inflows come ...

. It is one of the largest lowland raised bogs in Northern Ireland.

Features

The raised bog which covers most of the site contains characteristic vegetation and structural features associated with this type of habitat such as bog pools and hummocks. The raised bog dome is surrounded by cut-over bog with poor fen and birch woodland.

Peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

found here was made by decayed branches and leaves of trees and plants. The extraction of this peat was first made by the UPW. Locals who were against the extraction set up the FFB in 1990. In the end the area was declared an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) after successful petitioning by the FFB and Friends of the Earth.

Flora and fauna

The bog vegetation features a high percentage cover of sphagnum mosses, ericoid dwarf-shrubs such as cross-leaved heath

Erica tetralix ''Erica tetralix'', the cross-leaved heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, native to western Europe, from southern Portugal to central Norway, as well as a number of boggy regions further from the coast in Central Europe ...

and heather

Calluna vulgaris ''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wid ...

, and other associated species such as hare's-tail cottongrass

Eriophorum vaginatum ''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found throughout the arctic, subarctic, and temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere in acid bog ha ...

, common cottongrass

Eriophorum angustifolium ''Eriophorum angustifolium'', commonly known as common cottongrass or common cottonsedge, is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. Native to North America, North Asia, and Northern Europe, it grows on peat or acidic soil ...

, deergrass ''Trichophorum cespitosum'' and sundew species ''Drosera''. Additional species, also well represented within the bog include Bog Asphodel

Narthecium ossifragum ''Narthecium ossifragum'', commonly known as bog asphodel, Lancashire asphodel or bastard asphodel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Nartheciaceae. It is native to Western Europe, found on wet, boggy moorlands up to about in eleva ...

and White Beak-sedge

Rhynchospora alba ''Rhynchospora alba'', the white beak-sedge, is a plant in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. It is a tufted herbaceous perennial around 50 cm tall, with white inflorescences that flower in August. The fruit of the sedge is a small achene with a ...

, with occasional patches of Bog-myrtle Myrica gale also occurring.

Ramsar site

The Ballynahone Bog Ramsar site (wetlands of international importance designated under the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

), is 243.24 hectares in area, at Latitude 54 49 25 N and Longitude 06 39 40 W. It was designated a Ramsar site on 31 December 1998. The site qualifies under criterion 1a of the Ramsar Convention by being a particularly good representative example of lowland raised bog. It is one of the two largest intact active bogs in Northern Ireland with hummock and hollow pool complexes and represents one of the best examples of this habitat type in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Peat Extraction and ASSI status

In 1979 a producer of peat for horticulture opened a factory (with government aid) and leased two bogs in the townland of Ballynahone More. In 1987 there was an application for planning permission to extract peat by milling from Ballynahone, Mullagh and Knocnakielt. In 1988, despite objections raised against the scheme, the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland granted Planning Permission to the company.Geography Location - Ballynahone Bog
/ref> In 1990 the Ulster Wildlife Trust sent out a Press release inviting members to "... take their last walk on an Ulster Bog - now that the fight to retain its ancient flora and fauna has been lost". This walk drew in people from the surrounding area, a public meeting was held and the Friends of the Ballynahone Bog (FBB) were launched. In 1991 the peat development company dug 13 miles of drains on the southern half of Ballynahone Bog threatening the plants of the raised bog. In 1993 FBB started the process of declaring Ballynahone Bog a National Nature Reserve. After pressure from Professor David Bellamy and Friends of the Earth, planning permission was revoked and the government announced their intention of declaring the bog an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI). In December 1993, the peat company dammed the drains it had cut in the bog with about 1700 dams helping to maintain the height of the water table. In January 1995 Ballynahone Bog was declared an ASSI by the Environment and Heritage Service. FBB are now in partnership with the Ulster Wildlife Trust to try to reverse the damage done to the bog in order to encourage the revival of the specialized bog plants, such as the sundew, and the wildlife such as insects and birds which depend upon them.

References

Further references

Crory, Andrew. 2016. Fritillary Butterflies. ''The Irish Hare.'' Ulster Wildlife Membership Magazine. Issue 113 p.4

External links

Geography in Action - Ballynahone Bog
{{coord, 54, 49, 25, N, 6, 39, 40, W, display=title Bogs of Northern Ireland Landforms of County Londonderry Special Areas of Conservation in Northern Ireland Ramsar sites in Northern Ireland