SUSTAINABILITY

SANCTUARY
Feature
Ballykinler Training Centre
Conservation below the radar
and sea buckthorn that the cattle will
not touch. Work is also done to protect
the large seal colony on the sheltered
beaches along with a red squirrel
reintroduction programme. Between
them these projects provide a safe
haven for two of the most iconic
mammals found in Northern Ireland.
Ballykinler camp was built around
1900, which means the unique natural
landscape has been protected from the
changing fashions in agricultural
techniques. Much of its 1350 acres has
remained untouched, unploughed
and without chemical fertilisers in all
that time.
Galloway cattle have eaten off much of the rank grass from the dune systems © Antony Canniford
‘Ballykinler is a place where the foxes walk
past rabbits on their way to the shore for
shellfish,’ smiles Oisin Murnion. ‘It’s simply
unique.’ Ballykinler Training Centre in
Northern Ireland is certainly that.
This Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
(AONB) is overlooked by the Mourne
Mountains and it comprises part of a
6,000-year-old dune system, which is
designated as an Area of Special
Scientific Interest and Special Area of
Conservation under both national and
European legislation.
But all the environmental designations
in the world would not protect the
delicately balanced ecosystem at
Ballykinler, unless the MOD’s Defence
Infrastructure Organisation had not
embarked on an imaginative
partnership with their tenant farmer.
The use of traditional breeds of
livestock for conservation grazing is a
well-established concept in the British
Isles and the Murnion’s have been using
their Galloway cattle to improve the
condition of the dune grassland and
dune heath at Ballykinler for the last
nine years.
The low intensity grazing has allowed
native plants to flourish, which in turn
has supported endangered species of
insects and birds. This includes the rare
marsh fritillary Euphydryas aurinia, as
well as more common butterflies such
as the dark green fritillary Argynnis
aglaja and small copper Lycaena
phlaeas. The hardiness and less selective
grazing of the Galloways has also
helped keep less desirable scrub and
ragwort in check.
Throughout the Troubles era
conservation and ecological concerns
have been far from anyone’s priority.
However, in the post-conflict era
attitudes to conservation have slowly
changed and today the Murnion’s are
working closely with DIO to be at the
forefront of that change. Conservation
grazing in the midst of a huge MOD
training facility requires an enormous
amount of patience, skill and co-operation.
As Jolene says, ‘It has taken time to
integrate the farming operation with
military training. For example, we work
around firing ranges and we have to
respond quickly if cattle need to be moved
from an area for operational reasons.
There are advantages to having lots of
soldiers around too. When our animals
are calving we will often get a phone call
during the night to let us know. It is a
great partnership and a great adventure
in conservation.’
Sinead McAleavey
Independent Journalist
This is where Oisin Murnion, his wife
Anne-Marie, daughter Jolene and their
hardy herd of Galloway cattle come in.
Alongside the grazing DIO has carried
out large scale scrub removal and other
management to tackle bracken, gorse
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SANCTUARY 45 2016