Balloo Wood and Wetlands

Driving through Balloo industrial estate south of Bangor, and following road signs for a recycling depot, you begin to feel that all wildlife has long since fled the area. So it is with some surprise that you encounter in the midst of commercial premises, Balloo Wood Nature Reserve. This is a retreat where those working nearby can spend their lunch hour: trading offices for oak glades, canteens for ponds and wetlands, and the sounds of machinery for birdsong. And though you never quite escape the background hum of the surrounding industry, there is tranquillity about Balloo Wood that immediately captivates anyone venturing through the gates.

There are several entrances to the wood: one is just across from the recycling depot, and another is marked by a towering wind turbine, which is taller than most of the trees. Its gentle swish, swish, swish is audible only when you are close to it, but its outline appears frequently through the treetops, dominating vistas across the reserve. Red clover, corn marigold, cornflower and poppies grow around the foot of this giant. Sown obviously as a wild flower mix, these plants add interest and colour. In general the site flora consists of a typical broadleaved woodland mix, with lesser celandines and primroses in spring, and foxgloves and honeysuckle in late summer; while in autumn the elder, holly and wild roses produce a good crop of berries. Kingcups and brooklime grow in abundance in the marshy areas and by the fringes of the ponds.

It is possible to walk through Balloo Wood in less than ten minutes, but to do so would be to risk missing so many details. I deliberately slowed my pace and was rewarded with the sight of a common darter flying and landing on the stone path, the sunlight catching the reddening leaves of the rosebay willowherb already gone to seed, and a great diving beetle patiently making its way through the grass by the path. Presumably it was searching for water - I wanted to warn it that it was heading away from the nearest pond. Just at the base of one of the silver birch trees I found fly agaric growing. This is the toadstool of illustrated fairy tale books: it has an orangey-red cap with white patches. No fairies in Balloo though, but it was good to see this species. It is a poisonous fungus, but not as deadly as some members of the same family.

Woodland butterflies such as the speckled wood are common enough as are the usual woodland birds: I noticed chaffinches, robins, blue tits and woodpigeons during my brief visit. Mammals range from wood mice to foxes, which doubtless rummage through any rubbish left around the recycling centre. Bats have also been recorded here. The smallest of our species, the pipistrelle, often roosts in trees, emerging at dusk to feed on insects. A single bat can consume as many as 3500 flies in one night - I wonder who counts them.

The site was formerly the grounds of Balloo House, the home of the Steele-Nicholson family from the early 1700s. The house is long gone, but inquisitive explorers may come across the remains of the family vault built in 1792 and known locally as Nicky’s Tomb. Today the wood is managed by the Ulster Wildlife Trust which advertises for volunteer helpers to carry out woodland management tasks - a practical example of getting the local community involved with conservation.

Across Balloo Road but hidden from the main thoroughfare, lies the matching half of this reserve, known as Balloo Wetlands. The character is very different from the woodland, and is mainly open water fringed by marsh. The paths are a mix of gravel and wooden boardwalks, which allow for easy access and give good panoramic views of the site. The ponds and reed beds are overlooked in places by housing and the omnipresent wind turbine in Balloo Wood.

The reserve caters well for its visitors. There is a bird hide, so that you can watch wildlife without disturbing it. The hide itself is worth a closer look - its unusual appearance is due to being constructed from recycled materials. I sat down for a while and watched a mallard and two tufted ducks out on the water. Mallards upend in a rather undignified manner, feeding on whatever underwater vegetation they can reach. Tufted ducks however, are diving ducks, and my two kept submerging with a quiet plop and reappearing a minute or so later in a different spot. These birds are probably well accustomed to human beings - I probably didn’t need to use the hide to watch them. Nor for the swallows and house martins that were flying low over the water, catching flies and drinking as they flew. Quite a trick that. The information panels suggest the presence of more elusive birdlife including kingfishers and herons, but sadly I didn’t see either of these. But I did have one spectacular moment on leaving the hide when a male pheasant flapped across the path, over the rail and into the trees by the perimeter of the site.

There are two platforms provided off the boardwalks where children can go pond dipping safely. Standing on one of them, I imagined the shrieks of excitement that always accompanies this activity, as the kids dip their nets and then eagerly sift through muddy water for movement. I can still remember the thrill the first time I caught a stickleback, or saw a common newt. Newts are amphibians, hibernating under stones during the winter and then returning to fresh water to breed in spring. They lay their eggs individually on pondweed and the emerging tadpoles have feathery external gills.

The boardwalks have been hijacked by sunbathing common darters. These are the commonest dragonflies in Northern Ireland, and they love to bask in the sunshine to warm themselves, preferring pale surfaces that reflect more of the sun’s heat: hence their fondness for Balloo’s light-coloured boardwalks. The day I was there the best sunbathing positions were being contested by the darters and speckled wood butterflies. Both of these attractive insects would stay stationary as I approached with my camera, flying away just as I was about to press the shutter.

I passed the time of day with some of the local residents walking through the site, and then circled back towards the hide and the entrance. The scenes along the way were reminiscent of the Norfolk Broads: flat with expanses of open water skirted by reedbeds – and a windmill. Well a modern wind turbine at least.