Buglife Northern Ireland

Buglife in Northern Ireland.

Habitat features

Northern Ireland has special landscape and species characters which are absent across the water in Britain.
Though much of the landscape is covered in glacial deposits, a huge area is underlain by basalt, a base rich rock that partly underlies Lough Neagh and forms impressive cliffs on the north coast, and those cliffs in part are underlain by exposed chalk (in combination, not present in Britain). Northern Ireland has other important wetlands, including fens in the western fringe.

Invertebrate fauna

As yet, Northern Ireland’s invertebrate fauna is poorly known, as demonstrated by the discovery in 1981 of a damselfly, now named the Irish Damselfly (Coenagrion lunulatum). Currently found at 35 sites in Northern Ireland, it’s worrying that some colonies are already extinct.
The Irish damselfly isn’t found in Britain, so in terms of the UK, the future of such species lies solely in the responsibility of Northern Ireland policies and actions.
Additionally there are other species where Northern Ireland has a significant proportion of UK populations.

Buglife Northern Ireland

Buglife’s Northern Ireland Officers are our first formal presence in Northern Ireland as we continue to expand our impact across the UK.
Our priorities in Northern Ireland include identifying invertebrate-rich brownfield sites and investigating the measures currently in place to protect Priority invertebrate species.

Latest news

New report highlights extinction threat to many of Northern Ireland’s bees

Loss of wildflower habitats, pollution and climate change are pushing many of Northern Ireland’s wild bee species to extinction, a Read more

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