Congratulations to Anna Hart ACIEEM!

We are delighted that Anna has recently been awarded Associate membership of CIEEM. This is testament to Anna’s growing experience and reputation in the sector, particularly in her specialism of invertebrates where she is developing an expertise in such diverse groups as Vertigo whorl snails, dragonflies, hoverflies and bees.

The award gives recognition to the experience she has gained both with Allen & Mellon and with other organisations where she has worked including Buglife and CEDaR. Congratulations Anna!

The end of an era....Dave announces his retirement

In August 2021 our Co-Director Dave Allen finally decided to hang up his clipboard and retire. Dave has been a leading figure in the Nothern Ireland environment sector since his arrival in the 1970s. He set up Allen and Mellon back in 2004 after a long career at the RSPB, firstly as a warden and then Reserves Manager for NI. During that time he made many friends in the sector and gained enormous respect amongst both peers and clients. We are delighted that Dave has remained as an Associate and we have already been utilising his skills and experience in several of our projects.

Burning heather and gorse

The burning of heather, gorse and other vegetation can be catastrophic for wildlife and their habitats, especially during the breeding season. The law states that heather or gorse burning must not be carried out between 15 April and 31 August. Controlled burning should only be carried out in suitable weather conditions which occur in Northern Ireland on average only 10 days per year.

Virtually all gorse, heather and forest fires in Northern Ireland are started deliberately and the team at Allen and Mellon had to call the emergency services to attend serious fires on four occasions last year. In April 2020 the fire which destroyed a significant part of the moorland at Slievanorra and Croaghan ASSI was the worst we have ever witnessed.

We appeal to all landowners and the general public to be aware of the law on burning and of the serious consequences of committing the emergency services to risk and danger, especially during a global pandemic.

The NI Fire and Rescue Service have produced a useful brochure on burning vegetation - click here.

Aftermath of a fire in the Antrim Hills April 2020

Welcome to our Fermanagh outpost

At Allen and Mellon we are fortunate to have a base in County Fermanagh which provides us with space and accommodation in the heart of Ireland's north-west.  This gets us closer to our projects in this part of the world.  In fact the Teiges Mountain Wind Farm site where we are engaged as Ecological Clerk of Works and undertaking ecological monitoring, is just five minutes away.

Eshywulligan (Mulligan's marshland) is located in the low hills between Fivemiletown and Rosslea - a heavily forested landscape which is nevertheless rich in biodiversity.  The building is a vernacular tin-roofed stone cottage which has been present in some form since the 1840s according to the OSNI 1st Edition maps.  Thankfully the interior has now been renovated and provides us with all the necessary comforts!

There are ten acres of land supporting a range of habitats including semi-improved grassland, rush pasture, wet heath, woodland, scrub and fen.  Grasshopper warbler, reed bunting and spotted flycatcher all nest here and the call of both cuckoo and curlew can still be heard in early spring.

The property is entirely within the Slieve Beagh - Mullaghfad - Lisnaskea SPA and hen harriers can be seen on foraging flights during the spring. A small stream which is a tributary of the Cooneen River flows along the northern boundary and here otters and white-clawed crayfish can be found.  Marsh fritillary and wood white butterflies are also present and an impressive moth list is developing.  We are sure that many other discoveries are yet to be made. Contact us at info@allenmellon.com

Meadowsweet in June

Maurice Hughes - a tribute

Our great friend Maurice Hughes passed away in January 2017. Maurice was the first regional officer for Butterfly Conservation in Northern Ireland and was hugely influential for all of us at Allen and Mellon.  It was Maurice who introduced Dave and I to the joys of finding and surveying Marsh Fritillary larval webs. Following that we worked together on many Marsh Fritillary projects across Ireland, forming a formidable team along with Anna Hart and Will Woodrow.

Maurice worked tirelessly to champion the Marsh Fritillary and its conservation in Northern Ireland with decision makers, landowners and the public.  His efforts have resulted in this being one of our most high profile butterfly species and his work has been carried on by BCNI through Catherine Bertrand and others.

Maurice played a major role in the discovery of the Cryptic Wood White in Ireland, working with Brian Nelson to obtain valuable data on this species.  He was also at the forefront of the huge surge of interest in moth recording here.  Micro-moths in particular were so poorly recorded before Maurice stepped in, securing funding for the first micro-moth checklist for NI, which was compiled by Ken Bond and published in 2009.

Maurice enjoyed moth trapping and we had many exciting moth-ing sessions together.  On our more ambitious expeditions we all benefited from his technical expertise and ability to organize complex logistics. Most memorably, Maurice was a member of the team that re-discovered the White Prominent moth in County Kerry in 2008.  The video of that discovery can be viewed on this website and provides a poignant reminder of happy days in the field with a real gentleman and a true friend.

Another new species for Ireland is found

Allen and Mellon Environmental have once again been involved in the discovery of a species new to Ireland.  Clive Mellon trapped a specimen of the micro-moth Cochylidia implicitana during a bioblitz at Copeland Bird Observatory on 11th June 2016.  Clive was on Lighthouse Island to record moths over a two-day period along with John O'Boyle, of Butterfly Conservation NI.  The moth was in a heath trap with 6W actinic bulb which had been set near the shoreline.  It was not familiar to Clive and so the specimen was retained.  The identification of the moth was confirmed in the past few days after it was dissected by the Northern Ireland micro-moth recorder John McClean. 

By Donald Hobern - Flickr: Cochylidia implicitana, CC BY 2.0

The confirmation was particularly timely as it brought the Irish micro-moth list to the landmark total of 900 species, with 673 of these recorded in Northern Ireland.  In the UK, the species occurs mainly in southern England where it is associated with waste ground and roadside verges.  Its main larval food plant is mayweed (either Matricaria or Tripleurospermum) and sea mayweed (Tripleurospermum maritimum) was common where it was taken.  This plant is common around our coasts, raising the possibility that the moth may be more widespread.

Cochylidia implicitana habitat at Copeland Bird Observatory

Dissection plate of Cochylidia implicitana by John McClean