What if, right here in the city, there was a place where kingfishers perch and peregrine falcons soar above butterflies, wild orchids and dozens of other plants and wildlife? Well, there is…

On the edge of West Belfast, running alongside the M1 are 47 acres of nature reserve known as the Bog Meadows. A surviving remnant of the Blackstaff River’s floodplain, the wetland was formed by melting glaciers during the last Ice Age.

In 1987 the Friends of Bog Meadows organised to preserve this last remaining area of wetland in Belfast. Two years later the Friends teamed up with Ulster Wildlife to purchase the land and manage it for conservation, recreation and education.

The Bog Meadows is of huge importance in terms of biodiversity. It is home to an exceptionally wide range of flora and fauna, as well as meadows, ponds, reedbeds, marsh, and walking paths.

Some 50 species of birds have been recorded at the Meadows, including peregrine falcons, buzzards and kingfishers. fieldfares and redwings, which migrate from Scandinavia, have also been spotted there. The Bog Meadows is also the last recorded breeding site in the area for the corncrake – now an extremely rare bird in Northern Ireland.

To date, the Meadows have attracted fourteen distinct species of butterfly including the orange-tip, speckled wood, meadow brown and small tortoiseshell butterflies, plus the distinctive black and red cinnabar moth (which is often mistaken for a butterfly).

In 2000 Belfast City Council designated the Bog Meadows a Local Nature Reserve.

Samhlaigh dá mbeadh áit anseo sa chathair ina raibh cruidíní ina seasamh agus seabhaic ghorma ag faoileoireacht os cionn na bhféileacán, na magairlíní agus go leor plandaí agus fiadhúlra eile. Bhuel, is amhlaidh atá...

Ar imeall Iarthar Bhéal Feirste, taobh leis an M1, tá tearmann dúlra 47 acra ar a dtugtar Cluain an Bhogaigh. Iarsma de thuilemhá Abhain Bheara, rinneadh an bogach as oighearshruthanna ag leá le linn na hOighearaoise is déanaí.

Tháinig Cairde Chluain an Bhogaigh (Friends of Bog Meadows) le chéile in 1987 leis an bhogach dheiridh seo i mBéal Feirste a chaomhnú. Dha bhliain níos moille, chuaigh na Cairde i gcomhar le Fiadhúlra Uladh leis an talamh a cheannach agus a bhainistiú fá choinne caomhnaithe, fóillíochta agus oideachais.

Tá Cluain an Bhogaigh thar a bheith tábhachtach ó thaobh na bithéagsúlachta de. Tá réimse leathan flóra agus fána ann, mar aon le cluainte, linnte, giolcarnach, riasca agus conairí siúil.

Chonacthas thart fá 50 speiceas éan sa Chluain, seabhaic ghorma, clamháin agus cruidíní san áireamh. Chonacthas sacáin agus deargáin sneachta ann fosta, a dhéanann imirce ó Chríoch Lochlann. Cluain an Bhogaigh is ea an áit is déanaí a taifeadadh mar áit phóraithe don traonach - éan atá thar a bheith neamhchoitianta i dTuaisceart Éireann sa lá atá inniu ann.

Go dtí seo, tháinig ceithre speiceas dhéag éagsúla d’fhéileacáin chuig an Chluain, an barr buí, an breacfhéileacán coille, an donnóg féir agus an ruán beag san áireamh, mar aon leis an leamhan flanndearg suaithinseach (is minic a cheaptar gur féileacán é).

Rinne Comhairle Cathrach Bhéal Feirste Tearmann Dúlra Áitiúil de Chluain an Bhogaigh in 2000.