Observations From Our Nature Reserves

Our first Nature Note is from Michael Meharg, conservation cattle grazier at our Slievenacloy Nature Reserve. A grassland paradise in the Belfast Hills, home to a stunning variety of rare wildlife.

Industrialisation of the Belfast Hills

Last week James Devenney took this stunning photograph of Divis and Black Mountain from Slievenacloy. The TV masts, wind turbine, quarry, electric poles, chicken house and coniferous forest all highlight the industrialisation of the Belfast Hills. This landscape shows how the peri-urban fringe is under multiple land-use pressures and highlights how valuable tracts of land, like our Nature Reserve at Slievenacloy are to protect important wildlife and landscape.

Alexander’s Band Rainbow

This photo is a great example showing refraction of light through raindrops creating a rainbow and making the sky above the rainbow appear much darker. You can just about make it out, but there is a second rainbow above the main rainbow.

The very dark band between a double rainbow is called the 'Alexander's Band' named after an early Greek philosopher Alexander of Aphrodisias! The 180° refraction causes the higher rainbow to have the colours reversed - ROYGBIV below with VIBGYOR above. 

Visibility was so clear Scrabo Tower is visible on the skyline to the right.

The time of year for Orchids and Lizards

In other news, we’ve seen the first orchids of the season coming into bloom across our nature reserves. Butterfly orchids at Slievenacloy, fragrant orchid at Milford Cutting and common spotted-orchids at Bog Meadows.

We’ve also spotted a few common lizards out in the sun on Slievenacloy. The only reptile native to Ireland!