A Belfast child was left in tears when development chased away the butterflies she loved visiting at a disused site where nature flourished near her Poleglass home.
In a bid to show her daughter ‘one person can make a difference’, mum Lynsey Donnelly has joined a community campaign to save the remaining land around historic Teelings Mill from the same fate.
The accidental nature reserve, now populated with butterflies, newts, birds, insects, badgers, foxes and more is owned by InvestNI.
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While earmarked for industry it has lain empty for 20 years and nature has thrived.
Now people from across the West Belfast community are calling on officials to save the popular walking spot little Elsie calls her ‘butterfly field’.
“Elsie was so upset and I was too, she didn’t understand why they were destroying one of her beautiful ‘butterfly fields’ as she called them,” Lynsey said.
“I remember very clearly my response to her that day... ‘there’s nothing we can do about it’.
“That sentence and the look of disappointment in her little face will stay with me forever. I knew I could do better and that she deserved better. Who wants their five-year-old to grow up thinking that they can’t make a difference?”
Lynsey, who also runs a local wildlife group, added: “I am concerned we will lose this area if it’s sold and built on for industrial reasons and the wildlife will suffer for it.
“On site we have wetland, we have grassland so we have a huge variety of butterflies, moths, newts, there’s evidence of badgers using it, foxes have been seen on site and birds of prey that probably use it for hunting. We would need proper surveys done.
“The land has been left to flourish for around 20 years and is a well established and mature habitat,” she added.
“It’s used regularly by local people. They walk their dogs through and I bring my own kids up to see the butterflies. During lockdown we used the space a lot.
“Areas like this are rare now, especially in residential areas. Most land is hard grazed, cut regularly and heavily managed... making places like the Teeling meadow a very special and vital haven for our wildlife.
“Government bodies talk about climate change and the very real threat to our wildlife and pollinators... protecting areas and small pockets like this that support such a wide variety of wildlife must be part of the action they take to tackle these issues.”
James McCabe from the Mount Eagles Drive Action Group is also concerned “about the loss of this habitat, environmental [and] industrial heritage site”.
“This is one of the few sites left of Teelings Green. It was a 23 acre site which is now been taken over by the Springbank Industrial Estate. This is what remains. It is the local community’s walk-around site. It’s a biodiversity site and it’s one of very few that we have left.”
Fellow MEDAG member and Colin Neighbourhood Partnership environmental sub committee’s Gerard Daye says: “We are here to protect this site which has industrial, archaeological and also value and potential.
“It’s important we have some unimproved grasslands left and it’s also one of the sites where there’s evidence of remains that link back to the 1798 Rebellion.
“People are starting to realise the significance of it,” he added. “This can be a driver for the local economy and to create local jobs in the area.”
People Before Profit councillor Michael Collins told us: “We are here to put out the call to protect this local wildlife hotspot. We are seeing a decline in the population of butterflies, bees... and sites like this are a natural habitat for them to come to and flourish so we really need the minister to make sure the land is preserved and no development is allowed to go ahead here.”
Friends of the Earth director, James Orr, says: “This wild area is a model of what wild nature can look like in the city. Instead of having to plant new trees we see the natural regeneration of oak and willow. There are existing wetlands that support frogs and newts.
“The community loves this place and its time government departments give this jewel of nature the protection it deserves.”
Belfast City Council said the site was “zoned for ‘industry and commerce’ under the Belfast Urban Area Plan” in 2001 and again as “existing employment” in the “Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan (BMAP 2015) which, although not formally adopted, remains a material consideration for any planning applications”.
But we understand the council's biodiversity officer has provided some feedback to council officers on the site for consideration in the new Local Area Development plan, which the council is now developing.
Despite the historical significance of Teelings Mill, Department for Communities say it has “no heritage protections”.
An InvestNI spokesperson said: “We are currently in discussions with a business that has expressed an interest in locating within Springbank Industrial Estate.
“Any plans brought forward by businesses to develop land within the Springbank Industrial Estate will be subject to the planning process and all the due diligence that this may entail, including detailed consideration by all relevant statutory consultees.”
Nature being protected in other parts of the city
Meanwhile, several Belfast parks are to benefit from a £108,694 grant to create insect super highways as part of a UK-wide Buglife project.
‘Belfast’s Buzzing’ is the first NI initiative hoping to deliver ‘B-Lines’ to allow insects to move more freely through our towns, cities and countryside.
It aims to restore habitat for insect pollinators at Belfast parks including Barnett Demesne, Clement Wilson Park, Lagan Meadows, Mary Peter’s Track, Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park and Cavehill Country Park.
Supported with a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £108,694, Belfast’s Buzzing also involves Belfast City Council, National Trust and other landowners to restore grassland for pollinators.
The two-year venture, which started in July 2022, will focus on reducing the decline of pollinating insects in Belfast through planting native wildflowers and grasses, alongside the creation of other pollinator friendly habitat.
Buglife Scotland & Northern Ireland Development Manager, Suzanne Burgess, said: “Pollinators are finding themselves in isolated oases, walled in by agricultural land, urban landscapes, roads, and gardens.
“What humans see as neat and tidy; insects see as desert! Buglife have come up with a beautiful solution to this problem – B-Lines.”
Residents and visitors will be able to get involved through practical conservation volunteering, pollinator identification and monitoring workshops and community events – such as gardening for wildlife and nature walks.
The project will also provide education opportunities; engaging with local schools and providing habitat creation and management advice to land managers, farmers, and local authorities.
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