{"id":35850,"date":"2013-11-25T11:44:10","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T11:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=0e99946eab52638344e108aab5d79fa4"},"modified":"2013-11-25T11:44:10","modified_gmt":"2013-11-25T11:44:10","slug":"news-story-military-protects-rare-species-in-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=35850","title":{"rendered":"News story: Military protects rare species in Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Ballykinler Training Centre (<abbr title=\"Ballykinler Training Centre\">BTC<\/abbr>) supports a broad range of species groups \u2013 birds, bats, seals, moths, butterflies, plants, mosses and beetles. The site provides a refuge for important examples of populations that depend on sensitive conservation management.  <\/p>\n<p>Located on a headland in Dundrum Bay on Northern Ireland\u2019s eastern coastline, <abbr title=\"Ballykinler Training Centre\">BTC<\/abbr> is situated on some 1,350 acres of stable dune systems and pasture, much of which has been now been designated as an \u2018area of special scientific interest\u2019.   <\/p>\n<p>The training area sits side-by-side in importance with notable wildlife sites in Northern Ireland, with neighbouring Murlough National Nature Reserve being one such example.  <\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Ballykinler Training Centre\">BTC<\/abbr> is maintained by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (<abbr title=\"Defence Infrastructure Organisation\">DIO<\/abbr>), the Ministry of Defence\u2019s (<abbr title=\"Ministry of Defence\">MOD<\/abbr>\u2019s) property and service provider. <\/p>\n<p>Major Anthony Canniford, Commander <abbr title=\"Defence Infrastructure Organisation\">DIO<\/abbr> Ops Training Northern Ireland, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><abbr title=\"Defence Infrastructure Organisation\">DIO<\/abbr>\u2019s priority is to support our Armed Forces as they prepare for operations. <abbr title=\"Ministry of Defence\">MOD<\/abbr> has a legal obligation to deliver a sustainably-managed training estate and that means that there\u2019s more conservation management going on at Ballykinler than you might first think.<\/p>\n<p>Although we continue to develop our training facilities and areas in support of the military, we remain conscious of our responsibility to preserve our environment and heritage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Our aim is to satisfy not only the requirements of the Army, but also the environment; and I believe that together with our partners we do this remarkably well at Ballykinler.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>There is an active conservation group at Ballykinler which meets twice a year and includes representatives from <abbr title=\"Ministry of Defence\">MOD<\/abbr>, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Ulster Wildlife, the National Trust and Butterfly Conservation, as well as several individual conservationists.  <\/p>\n<p>A substantial amount of time and effort goes into making Ballykinler an example of best practice in terms of conservation on an active working site:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>a grazing regime using traditional breeds of cattle is seeing a reduction in rank grassland that in turn allows conditions suitable for a range of breeding bird species such as the meadow pipit and by definition for cuckoos<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>scrub and bracken control is being carried out that will recreate a mosaic of habitats appropriate for a range of invertebrates that will provide food for key breeding species such as the skylark, stonechat, linnet and reed bunting<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>direct action is being taken to halt the decline in barn owl numbers, a species threatened with extinction in Northern Ireland, with the provision of a dozen additional nesting sites within the estate.  <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Northern Ireland training area is providing a haven for some of the most threatened species of animals and plants in the British Isles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}