THE creation of a wildlife pond on the Black Mountain – to promote biodiversity – has been completed, after local people, community activists and organisations all came together to make it possible.
The Black Mountain Wildlife & Rewilding Project had set about to create the pond as “the lower area of the mountain lacked invertebrates" such as damselflies and dragonflies along with amphibians such as the common frog and smooth newt. It's hoped that the pond will help distribute their population across the mountain further promoting great population health.
Ballymurphy man Aaron Kelly, who is behind the initiative, spoke with the Andersonstown News about the completion of the pond and its importance in promoting and protecting biodiversity within the local area.
“It took us five weeks to get it done. It’s crazy the amount of work you can get done, because when you put it like that, it’s five days. It shows the manpower.
“We had a lot of people helping out from around the community which is great to see. In total, we have about 25 people helping which is amazing. People giving up their Saturdays just shows how keen people are.
Community came together to make the pond possible
“I have been seeing birds bathing themselves on the stones already. I’ve been seeing water beetles making their way around the pond and saw them swimming about. I saw two dragonflies in the second week of doing it.
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“So you think about next year if you’re already seeing this, you’re going to see a lot more.”
Aaron, who currently works with Ulster Wildlife, has been working with landowners within the area to bring more biodiversity onto the mountain. He has developed the the Black Mountain Wildlife & Rewilding Project which focuses on rewilding the mountain.
Aaron Kelly, the man behind the idea 
“The overall hope for the pond is to bring in more water and invertebrates. We want to bring in dragonflies, damselflies because you can only really find them at the top of the mountain, and we want to bring in newts which are a protected species and we also want to bring in more room for frogs because amphibians all around the world are decreasing.”
