Northern Ireland Habitat Action Plans

Those UK priority habitats that occur in Northern Ireland are considered to be automatically selected as priority habitats in Northern Ireland. There are 37 such habitats which are already the subject of costed action plans at UK level. View the UK Habitat Action Plans for these priority habitats.

Selection Criteria for Northern Ireland HAPs

Conservation priorities for habitats in Northern Ireland are not necessarily the same as those applying to the UK as a whole. There will be habitats, which, because of their status in Northern Ireland or in Ireland as a whole, merit particular attention even though they are not priority habitats in the UK context.

To select additional priority habitats for Northern Ireland, three criteria have been adopted; any habitat satisfying at least one of these qualifies as a priority habitat.

These criteria are:

• habitats at risk in either Northern Ireland or Ireland generally, because of either rarity or a high rate of decline
• habitats for which Northern Ireland has a large part of either the UK or Irish total (10% of UK; 50% of Irish)
• habitats of particular importance for priority species.

The following Northern Ireland Habitat Action Plans can be viewed.

Marine Habitats

The marine life in the seas surrounding Northern Ireland is extremely rich and varied.

• Tidal Rapids (.pdf 29KB)
• Seagrass Beds (.pdf 46KB)
• Maerl Beds (.pdf 31KB)
• Saline Lagoons (.pdf 28KB)
• Mudflats (.pdf 36KB)
• Sheltered Muddy Gravels (.pdf 32KB)
• Mud habitats in deep water (.pdf 62KB)
• Sabellaria alveolata reefs (.pdf 59KB)
• Sabellaria spinulosa reefs (.pdf 58KB)
• Sublittoral sands and gravels (.pdf 72KB)
• Modiolus modiolus beds (.pdf 64KB)
• Littoral and sublittoral chalk (.pdf 63KB)

Coastal habitats

Coastal areas are typically rich in biodiversity. Those of Northern Ireland are particularly so because of the wide range of habitats within a relatively small area.

• Maritime cliff and slopes (.pdf 86KB)
• Coastal sand dunes (.pdf 112kb)
• Coastal vegetated shingle (.pdf 104kb)
• Coastal saltmarsh (.pdf 123KB)

   

Wetland Habitats

Northern Ireland is particularly rich in wetlands and includes rivers, lakes and ponds. Often they occur in a mosaic that includes open water, swamp, fen and carr woodland.

• Eutrophic standing waters (.pdf 131KB)
• Mesotrophic lakes (.pdf 163KB)

• Marl lakes (.pdf 124KB)
• Fens (.pdf 115KB)

• Reedbeds (.pdf 110KB)
• Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh (.pdf 133KB)

Peatland habitats

Heathland and bog habitats dominate upland areas in Northern Ireland with lowland heaths and lowland raised bogs being comparatively scarse.

• Blanket Bog (.pdf 80KB)

• Lowland Raised Bog (.pdf 75KB)

• Upland Heathland (.pdf 178KB)

• Lowland Heathland (pdf 82KB)

• Montane Heath (pdf 78KB)

             

Grassland Habitats

These habitats make up the majority of enclosed agricultural landscape of Northern Ireland, forming the familiar pattern of field and hedge. Many of these grasslands are intensively managed for agricultural production. The remaining natural and semi-natural grasslands are a rich and diverse habitat.

• Lowland meadow (.pdf 96KB)

• Lowland dry acid grassland (.pdf 95KB)

• Purple moor-grass and rush pastures (.pdf 98KB)

• Calcareous grassland (.pdf 196KB)

• Limestone pavement (.pdf 109KB)

Woodland and Hedgerow Habitats

Northern Ireland is one of the least wooded areas in the European Union. In contrast it has the highest density of field boundaries in the UK.

• Species-rich Hedgerows (.pdf 70KB)
• Mixed ashwoods (.pdf 168KB)
• Oakwood (.pdf 103KB)
• Wet woodland (.pdf 148KB)
• Parkland (.pdf 89KB)

All these plans provide an important framework for delivering conservation action over a range of our most important terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine habitats over the next 10 years.  

View the Projected Costs for the Delivery of the Plans

If you have any views on these plans or require any further information please contact the Biodiversity Unit, Environment & Heritage Service, Klondyke Building, Cromac Avenue, Gasworks Business Park, Lower Ormeau Road, Belfast BT7 2JA  or e-mail HAPs@doeni.gov.uk.

Progress towards targets

Action plans were reported on in 2005 and can be viewed at Biodiversity Action Reporting System (BARS)

This report was produced using a web-based system - BARS. This is currently being developed for reporting on the NI HAPS for the next NI and UK biodiversity reports.