Three and Six Mile Water Valleys Biodiversity Profile

In the following account of this LCA it should be noted that for consistency, the biodiversity section follows the standard order for all LCAs even though some of the communities discussed later may have more importance for biodiversity than those discussed earlier.

Key Characteristics

• under pressure from expansion of the main towns and villages
• non-urban land is predominantly improved pasture
• woodland is sparse, limited mainly to parkland and stream sides

Woodlands

Woodlands occupy approximately 3% of the LCA and almost all of this is broadleaved. It is confined mainly to former demesnes such as Upton Park (Templepatrick), Loughanmore, Holestone House and Hazelbank (Lowland woodland pasture and parkland). In most of these demesnes, mature broadleaves dominate, principally beech, with oak, lime, some sycamore and horse chestnut, but there are occasional conifers intermixed and some small conifer plantations. Small woodlands are also found along streams and rivers, particularly the Six Mile Water around Muckamore; some of these are part of landscaping associated with former demesnes and have similar tree species to the parklands. Elsewhere, patches of woodland and scrub are found around old quarries or as shelterbelts around farmsteads. New planting has taken place recently as at Rathfern Wood on Carnmoney Hill; this is a Community Woodland of ash, hazel and oak interspersed with footpaths and ponds on a 25ha site. At Monkstown a 9ha site beside the Three Mile Water and has been planted with ash, cherry, Scot's pine and hazel. Further woodland planting should be encouraged; not only does it have amenity value and potentially increase the biodiversity, but it could also help to soften the impact of housing and industry which is continuing to expand into the countryside.

Grassland and Arable

Grassland occupies approximately 60% of the LCA; the majority is improved pasture. Poor quality pasture and rough grassland is often located around the edge of urban areas - the sites for further urban expansion. However, they can also result from physical factors such as dampness in the valley bottoms, to give rushy fields (some of which have breeding waders - curlew, lapwing and snipe), or thin soils on upland parts (e.g. Carnmoney Hill) that may also have gorse. Pasture fields are typically enclosed by overgrown and gappy hedges, but they tend to be better managed in the Six Mile Water valley itself.

Arable land is scattered through the LCA, accounting for about 6% of the area. However, although some of this is genuine arable, much is reseeding of pasture.

Peat Bog

There are no remaining areas of peat bog in the LCA; the few small patches of lowland bog which once occurred have been drained and converted to pasture fields and even the higher parts have only the shallowest of peaty soils.

Wetlands

Hydepark Dam and Mossley Dam are the only significant areas of standing water. Both may be characterised as moderately enriched and of a low biological interest. However, fen communities are associated with both of these dams. The main river is the Six Mile Water, which has the priority species river water-crowfoot. This plant is also located in the Clady Water, Ballymartin Water and Doagh River, all of which are tributaries of the Six Mile Water. These rivers flow through improved pastures and there are threats from agricultural practices.

Coastal

The LCA adjoins both the Outer Belfast Lough ASSI and the Inner Belfast Lough ASSI. The habitat range includes open mud flats, boulder and rock shore, extensive mussel beds and important feeding/roosting sites for wintering waders and wildfowl. These sites support internationally important bird numbers.

Urban

Almost 20% of the LCA is urban. Most of this has little biodiversity interest, but there are many small sites that have been recognised as having some value; these are proposed as Nature in the City sites that include many different habitats including neutral grasslands, conifer and broadleaved plantations and sections of streams.

Key Issues

General actions for UK and NI Priority Habitats and Priority Species are detailed in the Habitat Action Plans and Species Action Plans.

WOODLANDS

Issue: this LCA features broadleaved woodlands in former demesnes, as NI Priority Habitat lowland woodland pasture and parkland

Actions:

• enhance the biodiversity value of demesne woodlands by discouraging any further felling or pollarding; by retention of fallen and veteran trees (particularly for bryophytes, ferns, fungi and fauna); ensure that hazel scrub is not cleared
• encourage control of grazing to foster herb layer and regeneration and if necessary, encourage replanting of canopy species; removal of invasive species could increase the diversity of ground flora, especially where the canopy species are not beech
• further study of the history and biodiversity of broadleaved woodlands within the LCA, particularly any ancient and long-established, as a key to future management
• enhance biodiversity and help soften the impact of housing and industry through measures to improve and extend woodland cover such as The Woodland Grant Scheme or The Farm Woodland Premium Scheme
• management plans for demesne woodland should be directed toward their survival, through natural regrowth or planting of native broadleaf species; farmers and landowners could be encouraged to plant field corners or set-aside fields

GRASSLAND AND ARABLE

Issue: the majority of pasture in this LCA is improved grassland of poor biodiversity value; hedges are poorly managed

Actions:

• encourage (through participation in Environmental Schemes) adoption/continuance of less intensive management of pastures to allow reversion to/continuance of more species-rich grassland
• manage grazing levels to ensure that important grassland areas are not encroached by scrub vegetation or experience a fall in species richness due to overgrazing
• maintain and enhance rough damp grassland by where, possible, restricting field or arterial drainage
• maintain and improve field boundaries, especially hedgerows where they occur through adoption of correct cutting cycles; hedge laying and replanting where necessary; leave saplings uncut to develop into hedgerow trees; avoidance of spraying with fertilisers, slurry, herbicides through a move to organic farming; provision of wildlife strips and conservation headlands around fields; and limitation of field amalgamation
• leave stubble over winter, rather than autumn ploughing to increase food resources for farmland birds; spring-sown cereals are beneficial to farmland birds

WETLANDS AND LAKES

Issue: the Six Mile Water river, Hydepark Dam, Mossley Dam and their associated fens are under threat from agricultural practices and urban expansion

Actions:

• promote and encourage adoption of Countryside Management guidelines so that rivers and standing waters are not polluted by releases from silage effluent, herbicides, pesticides, fertilisers or sheep dip; ensure that eutrophication does not occur as a result of nutrient-rich surface waters from surrounding farmland
• monitor streams in relation to expansion of urban and industrial expansion; monitor effects of recreation, including fishing, on shoreline communities (reedbeds, fens etc.)
• prevent further loss of fens through drainage, reclamation, land-fill, new woodland planting and encroachment by scrub woodland; prevent dumping and fly-tipping and encourage removal of rubbish; care should be taken to divert the flow of nutrient rich water from agricultural land away from fens, so that sites do not become damaged by a change in species composition
• carefully assess any proposals for arterial and field drainage near to fens so that the water table is not lowered to the extent that fens are affected

COASTAL

Issue: sections of Outer Belfast Lough ASSI and Inner Belfast Lough ASSI are included within this LCA; these feature mudflats and important sites for waders and wildfowl

Actions:

• protect mudflats from potential impacts of nutrient enrichment, land claim, coastal defences, dredging and human disturbance
• ensure that mussel beds are protected from physical impacts such as aggregate extraction, pipe/cable laying, dumping of spoil/cuttings; offshore fishing activities such as trawls and dredges can also have an impact
• ensure that NI Priority Species, rare plants and RSPB Red List Species are protected from factors such as new development, erosion, waste tipping and pollution

URBAN

Issue: this LCA contains numerous Nature in the City sites, which represent a broad range of habitats in Belfast

Actions:

• ensure the continued preservation of Nature in the City sites as biodiversity refuges within the urban environment
• the development of management plans for existing Nature in the City sites would benefit local biodiversity

identify further urban sites of biodiversity value for preservation

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