A West Belfast man has revealed how his growing love of wildlife in the Belfast hills during lockdown landed him his dream job.
Aaron Kelly won the West Belfast Partnerships Environment Award and an Aisling Award for his inspirational work on Black Mountain.
Film of his experiences monitoring and nurturing rare species there will now be shared with youngsters at local schools and youth clubs to show them why it’s so important they look after the nature on their doorsteps.
Read more: Mourne, Gullion and Strangford's UNESCO Global Geopark award in sight
Treasures of the Hills includes first-of-its-kind footage of newts, owls, pine martens and birds of prey trying to eke out a living in the city’s surrounding mountains.
Aaron told Belfast Live at the film’s launch: “I’ve just always had nature in me - ever since I was a kid.
“Over lockdown, I saw the mountain getting trashed and treated badly and I didn’t like seeing that so I started doing a litter pick and after the litter picks... then I found the pine marten.
“It made me realise we need to look after this place.
“After I found the pine marten I started to survey it because it had never been surveyed before [on Black Mountain] and there’s talks of development from all angles coming to it.
“I went to find these animals to prohibit development but also to get a wee bit of interest in the place to actually want to enhance it for the wildlife.
“That’s the aim of the whole video - to show this wildlife so people can realise why we need to look after it.
“I’ve been up there since I was a kid... to see the type of wildlife around but I never actually tried to look for it.
“I know all the wildlife there is around Ireland and I’ve seen them in other places and if they have it, why shouldn’t we?”
The 25-year-old Ballymurphy man’s environmental educational film and The Black Mountain Rewilding Project were launched at a special event at Glor Na Mona on Monday night.
Aaron added: “The video is going to go off to youth clubs, schools, and community groups.
“When I went to school the only type of educational videos and the type of stuff I learned about wildlife was always in different countries. We never learned about wildlife that is literally up the street.
“I want to try and create something to show the kids you don’t have to go to Australia or Africa or somewhere like that - you can see wildlife up the street. That’s the whole aim of it.
“It’s to make them think if they are going up and they’re littering or burning they might be killing owl babies - to show that it’s just not a hill - it’s somewhere that has a life of its own and it needs to be respected.
“All the stuff I did on the mountain got me a job in Ulster Wildlife. I started working there last year and it’s the best job in the world.
“I have wanted to work there since I was a kid and I am over the moon.”
He has urged any youngsters in his area with an interest in wildlife to “give me a shout - and you can come and give me a hand”.
“There’s another tree planting coming up and we are looking to start fencing off areas to begin the real rewilding,” he added.
Aaron’s film, made by Bayview Media with support from Live Here Love Here and The Upper Springfield Resource Centre, is available to watch on Youtube. You can contact the Ballymurphy man through Ulster Wildlife at info@ulsterwildlife.org or 028 9045 4094.
READ NEXT:
Christmas ad highlighting plight of turkeys set for NI cinemas
Kitten dumped in bin one of 'worst cases of neglect' says animal rescuer
Concerns raised over use of “lethal chemicals” to cull grey squirrels
RSPB calling for people to come forward as birds of prey still being killed
Watch: Behind the scenes with Rathlin Islanders helping endangered puffins
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
