Rich
marine and bird life | Folklore
has it that there are 365 islands in Strangford Lough, one for every day of the
year. The Lough is huge - almost like an inland sea. It's the largest sea Lough
in the British Isles, covering 150 sq km. It is also a great place for marine
life. | | Cormorant haven. Photo: RSPB |
Three
hundred and fifty million litres of water flow in and out of Strangford Lough
twice daily so it's perhaps no surprise that it's one of the richest marine environments
in Europe. Two thousand marine animals and plants have been recorded in
and around the Lough - that's almost three quarters of all the species recorded
around the Northern Ireland coast. Because Strangford Lough is so big, there's
a wealth of wildlife from seals and basking sharks to tens of thousands of birds
that make remarkable journeys halfway across the world to get here. This
beautiful, wild and rugged landscape is just 13 miles from Belfast city centre! Bird
watchers' paradise The
islands are drowned drumlins or small hills - a legacy of the Ice Age... some
are low lying, others are rounded like hogs backs.
Cormorants are one of
the birds at the top of the food chain feeding on fish that are attracted here
in their tens of thousands by the plankton in the water. You are likely
to see Oystercatchers, Shelduck, Terns and Ringed Plovers. In the Autumn
Strangford Lough comes into its own. Up to 20,000 light bellied Brent Geese -
that's three quarters of the world population - arrive in Northern Ireland after
making a remarkable 3,000 mile journey from the Arctic Circle. During the
UK summer, these geese are in the Canadian tundra rearing chicks and bulking up
for one of the toughest of all bird journeys. It's one that takes them
via the ice caps of Greenland and the frozen wastes of Iceland before literally
dropping out of the skies on the point of exhaustion in late August and September.  Nature
watching
One of the highlights of any trip to Strangford Lough is Bird
Island which visitors can see from a boat trip. Four hundred pairs of Cormorants
live on the island, making this one of the biggest communities of these birds
in Europe. Although you can't land on the island, the boat trip affords
good views of the birds feeding and raising their young. Strangford Lough
has recently been declared a Marine Nature Reserve by the Department of the Environment.
The Lough has a massive tidal flow, enabling it to carry vast quantities
of plankton and other nutrients, providing food for a huge range of marine creatures. Strangford
Lough has more than 2,000 species of marine animals, making it one of Europe's
most diverse marine life resources. Strong tidal currents in the Narrows
expose bedrock covered by filter feeding animals such as the elephant's ear sponge,
hydroids, sea-anemones, sea-squirts and soft corals. Dense forests of kelp seaweed
also grow here. Strangford Lough is also home to the largest colony of Common
Seals in Ireland as well as Pilot Whales and Porpoises.  Flower
carpet
The southern tip of Strangford Lough is blessed with fantastic displays
of flowers during the Spring especially at Killard Point Nature Reserve. Highlights
of this amazing natural flower show are the bright yellow Kidney Vetch and the
unusual looking Frog Orchid, which resembles the amphibian after which it is named. | 
