River Blackwater Catchment Trust
The River Blackwater Catchment Trust would like to welcome you to our website where you can find information on what we do, why we do it and how you at home can get involved in some of the conservation work we do. Being a volunteer for wildlife brings it’s own rewards as many of our current membership will tell you, the wildlife seems to appreciate it and often comes around when we are out to see what is going on. We have groups who work with the red squirrel, water quality and fish stocks and preservation of many species on the heather bogland of Sliabh Beagh.
Objectives
Public awareness of the natural environment
Public awareness of the natural environment seems to have faded into the background of our busy lives, we all spend less time outside, farming methods have changed dramatically, knowledge has been lost and the natural habitats of our native wildlife has suffered as a result. Species, not native to our land, both animal and plant and the way we live all have had a major impact on our native wildlife habitats.
Our aim is to build awareness of the problems in schools and local community groups, educating people young and old how they can help build our wildlife back up to strength before some of it is gone forever.
By visiting schools and local groups we hope to build on our volunteer groups creating custodians not just for now but into the future to keep the rich diversity of the Blackwater catchment area long into the future.
You too can play a vital part.
Objects
The Objectives of the Company, Trust, Charity, are :
To conserve, protect, rehabilitate and improve the rivers, streams, watercourses and impoundments of the Blackwater catchment – comprising all of the waterways of the River Blackwater basin, including Lough Neagh – for the advancement of environmental protection and improvement and for the benefit of the public.
To conserve, protect, rehabilitate and improve the various natural habitats and water-dependent ecosystems that lie within the Blackwater catchment in Counties Monaghan, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Armagh.
To raise awareness amongst the general public, statutory bodies, governments and local authorities of what needs to be done and of what can be achieved when things are done properly, as at (1) and (2) above. In particular, we aim to improve:
a. understanding of rivers, river corridors, river catchments and watercourses, their flora and fauna, their biodiversity, their economic and social relevance and the importance of river catchment management.
b. understanding of habitats and how they work, and the need for management of flora and fauna in some situations, to achieve a better balance and protect vulnerable species.
Helping nature at home
We can all do a little in our own homes to give nature a helping hand and sometime it can be as easy as not doing something.
Leave a little bit of your garden to go a bit wild!
Don’t cut the grass in this area.
Leave a small pile of logs or some old pallets in a corner to encourage bugs, this gives the birds a shelter and a source of food.
If you’re a gardener a small pond will not only help wildlife but it encourages frogs which will eat those nasty slugs which ruin your greens.
Cut a bamboo cane halfway between the knots and tape them together then put them in a wall or build some stones around them to give shelter to bees and ladybirds in the winter.
Put out bird and squirrel feeders in the cold winter months.
Don’t cut hedges when the birds are nesting.
A pile of leaves can make a great winter home for hedgehogs, another animal that helps gardeners by eating slugs.
Very little effort on our part can make a big difference to wildlife.