Lagan Valley Coppice

19/10/2026

📢Job Alert! Closing Soon!📢

Multiple environmental jobs & volunteer opportunities available! For more info visit our website: https://tinyurl.com/smd6wbkh

Action Renewables
The Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland
Live Here Love Here
Nature Friendly Farming Network
Outscape
RSPB Northern Ireland
UK Youth for Nature
WWT Castle Espie Wetland Centre

19/10/2026

With crispy autumn outside we have started woodland management works. Bulk of the work involves thinning, crown lifting, removal of ash with dieback and coppicing mixed woodland. Late in the winter we will follow-up and do some tree planting. Timber will go mostly into craft products, firewood, landscaping projects and habitat piles. Today we brought the first batch of blanks for walking sticks and shillelaghs. Those on the pictures are mostly from oak, but we have also seasoned and straightened blanks from plum, holly, ash, hazel and maple. Happy to supply greenwood blanks for projects or made for order seasoned walking sticks. All of that from sustainable managed forest in the hearth of Northern Ireland. For more info message me.

12/08/2026

Some good opportunities to get out and start adventure with nature conservation in Northern Ireland.

Our highly popular Trainee Ranger Scheme returns for another year!

Thanks to funding from The National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland, Breedon Group plc and Action Renewables, the highly successful Trainee Ranger Scheme will return for another year as part of our new project ‘Young, Wild and Well’.

The Scheme will be slightly different this year in that we are only accepting applications from young people aged 18-30 who are facing mental and physical health struggles, special educational needs and disabilities or other forms of discrimination or disadvantage. More information and application forms can be found on our website:
https://belfasthills.org/newsroom/traineerangerscheme/

The deadline to apply is Tuesday 1st September 2026 at 5pm.

‘Young, Wild and Well’ is a new project which will build on the legacy of Wild Youth. The joint project between the Belfast Hills Partnership and Ulster Wildlife will continue to support young people’s mental and physical health in the outdoors.

07/08/2026

03/08/2026

Few interesting opportunities popped up in Co Down.

📢 We're hiring!

The Mourne Gullion Landscape Connections Project is recruiting five new team members to help shape the future of one of Northern Ireland's most spectacular landscapes.

We're currently recruiting for:
✅ Project Manager
✅ Senior Community Participation & Volunteering Manager
✅ Farming Liaison Manager
✅ Farming for Nature Officer
✅ GI Analyst

Interested in finding out more? Join us at one of our informal Recruitment Drop-In Sessions to learn about the project and discuss the opportunities available.

📍 Newcastle 📅 Thursday 6 August 2026 🕝 2.30pm - 6.30pm Donard Room, Newcastle Centre
📍 Newry 📅 Tuesday 11 August 2026 🕒 3.00pm - 7.00pm Mall Suite, Canal Court Hotel

No booking required. Drop in anytime during the session.

Visit nationaltrustjobs.org.uk for full job descriptions and application details.

Mourne Gullion Landscape Connections is made possible with . Thanks to players, we can come together to sustain and restore the Mourne AONB and Ring of Gullion AONB landscape.

02/08/2026

Lagan Valley- good and bad sides in the summer. With unusually less rain we have really dry conditions out there. The woods do suffer little as trees drop leaves earlier to reduce the need for water. Meadows look really dry unfortunately and many plants went early into seeds. Some like giant hogweed thrive now. The river has a low level exposing a lot of rubbish- fresh and old stuff that finished at the bottom many years ago. Luckily I also had some nice discoveries: found a few trees full of ripe Mirabelle plums and a nest/barrow of kingfisher in the bank of river.

23/07/2026

Join us for a free lunchtime webinar with All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Programme Manager, Dr Sarah Larragy, to explore the next phase of the AIPP (2026–2030) and hear about the plans for the next five years.

Register here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/nationalbiodiversitydatacentre/2320599

We'll introduce the Plan's vision and priorities, highlighting it's 10 work packages which bring together actions across sectors including farmland, public land, transport networks, communities, businesses and researchers. You'll also hear about how the Plan's 50 strategic aims and 75 success metrics will help guide and measure progress towards an island where pollinators can survive and thrive.

Whether you're already involved in biodiversity initiatives or looking to get started, this webinar will show how the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan provides practical tools, resources, and inspiration to help everyone play a part in protecting pollinating insects. Find out how you can get involved and help turn individual actions into lasting, landscape-scale change for pollinators across the island of Ireland.

17/07/2026

Back to work!

14/05/2026

Few shots from walk at Lagan Valley Park. The spring flowers like bluebell are finishing their spectacle and slowly summer plants take over. The surrounding urban environment creates slightly warmer temperature and provides more shelter from wind. This allows some species to flower well ahead of their colleagues in more exposed locations in the country.

30/04/2026

Warm and dry weather helped germinate and establish some wildflowers in my garden. Wild garlic began flowering- a sign that soon it will go into seed, then foliage will die and the plant will go dormant till next spring. I have got plenty of yellow rattle popping up on our wildflower meadow. This plant is often called a haymaker- it takes energy from surrounding grasses opening space for other herbs and flowers. There is also a flower of narrow leaf plantain. It's a deep rooted plant that handles well our heavy clay in dry weather. Finally a great surprise- 2 leaves of what looks like a common spotted orchid. I have been introducing those seeds over the last 2 years and it looks like I got lucky. Orchids can be demanding and expect non disturbed, non fertilised soil. My green patch after 3 years slowly gets in the right direction. The ultimate target will be to have more vetches later on in the year, maybe also red clover or even birds feet trefoil. Seeds of those species were added through the late winter. This mix should be great for pollinators such as bumblebees, butterflies and moths. 3 years ago this used to be a lawn- a green desert with not much life or action except regular mowing.