Conservation

Drumnaph Nature Reserve offers a unique environment that has evolved over the millennia from dense temperate forest and wetlands into a more open patchwork of diverse habitats.  This transition has been brought about by human intervention through low-intensity livestock grazing since the first farmers arrived in Ireland approximately 6,000 years ago.  This low-intensity approach allowed many of the richly diverse habitats in our ancient landscape to find a new home alongside the agricultural practices of our ancestors. 

We are very fortunate that this low-intensity approach to farming has continued on the reserve into modern times and that we have been able to conserve this remnant of our ancient landscape.  The intensification of agricultural land within the wider landscape means that the reserve has become a vitally important part of our ecological heritage that needs to be preserved.  It is a repository of our biodiversity that could one day play an important role in reinstating its rich habitats within a much wider landscape.