Ballynahone Bog

Ballynahone Bog (from Irish Baile na hAbhann 'townland of the river'[2]) is a raised bog, situated in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, about 3 km south of Maghera, on low-lying ground immediately north of the Moyola River about 14 km from its mouth at Lough Neagh.

[citation needed] The bog vegetation features a high percentage cover of sphagnum mosses, ericoid dwarf-shrubs such as cross-leaved heath Erica tetralix and heather Calluna vulgaris, and other associated species such as hare's-tail cottongrass Eriophorum vaginatum, common cottongrass Eriophorum angustifolium, deergrass Trichophorum cespitosum and sundew species Drosera.

[3] The site qualifies under criterion 1a of the Ramsar Convention by being a particularly good representative example of lowland raised bog.

It is one of the two largest intact active bogs in Northern Ireland with hummock and hollow pool complexes and represents one of the best examples of this habitat type in the United Kingdom.

This walk drew in people from the surrounding area, a public meeting was held and the Friends of the Ballynahone Bog (FBB) were launched.

After pressure from Professor David Bellamy and Friends of the Earth, planning permission was revoked and the government announced their intention of declaring the bog an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI).