Birding in Lisburn
The Lagan Tow-path
Lisburn
city, ten miles south of Belfast, sits by the banks of the River
Lagan which runs through the Lagan Valley Regional Park
through to Belfast Harbour into
Belfast Lough. A tow-path along the canal starts in Lisburn at Moore's Bridge
on
the Hillsborough Road and
continues for 11 miles right through to Belfast. This walking/cycle
path
provides good opportunity to see many species of bird life
along the way in many different habitats.The
canal construction first began in the 18th century for the
purpose
of transporting goods to and from Belfast into Lough Neagh, the heart
of the province. Kingfisher
is a
popular bird along its banks with mallard,
coot, moorhen, mute swan, grey heron and little grebe,
present all year round.
There are carparks to start
your walk along the Queens
Road and at the Lisburn Borough Council, Island Centre.
Click on the map for larger version.
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From almost anywhere along the tow path look out for chaffinches, goldfinches, bullfinches, bluetit, great tit, coal tit,long-tailed tit, and goldcrest.Resident blackbird birds, friendly robins, wrens, song thrushes and mistle thrushes all sing to make your experience enjoyable. Look also for grey wagtail on the old canal locks along with the common waterfowl. Walking towards Belfast, with the flow of the river will take you along many different types of habitat, from woodland to scrubland, slow moving water on the river and old canal to weirs and fast moving water. Kingfisher favour the slow moving currents, whilst greywagtail and dipper can be seen on rocks along the faster currents. Grey heron can be seen almost anywhere. In wooded area's look out for jay's, grey squirrel's, hunting sparrowhawk's and scan the skies for buzzard and hovering kestrel's. The habitat are so varied that almost anything could be seen along the tow-path. At night time, for the more adventurous, long-eared owls are common along the wooded areas. All year long the tow-path provides pleasant walks and good bird watching and 99% traffic free. Look out also for otter and the common brown rat as well.
The river flows from Moores Bridge , past the rear of the Lagan Valley Hospital, between the rear of the Hill Street estate and the Young Street residential area and onto the Union Bridge and The point Bar where the path crosses the main road and picking up on the other side into the grounds of Lisburn Civic Centre at the the Lagan Valley Island Centre. The towpath is then sandwiched between the Huguenot estates of the Low Road and the Hillhall housing estates, past the rear of the old Hilden mills and onto the Coca Cola factory at Lambeg. Beyond Lisburn and Hilden/Lambeg the tow path continues past the Lady Dixon Park and Edenderry village onto shaws Bridge and the Lagan Meadows and on to Belfast City Centre.
There are many of the features of the old canal system and the old linen mills along the route including a few of the locks and lock-keepers cottages to view as well. The canal irons out all the twists and turns of the river Lagan and was used to transport coal and other goods to and from Belfast on horse pulled barges in a by-gone age.
See www.laganvalley.co.uk on the links page for more details.
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