Bohill Forest

Bohill Forest was historically clear-felled, and the land was subsequently allowed to regenerate naturally. This regeneration led to the development of a small area of deciduous woodland, now comprising holly, oak, birch, rowan, and hazel. The forest includes a tiny pocket of native scrub, largely of holly with oak standards, situated on a steeply sloping, south-east facing Silurian shale hill. Until the mid-1960s, this area was mixed scrub. Today, bracken and bilberry dominate the small clearings, which provide ideal conditions for the holly blue butterfly (Celastrina argiolus), typically seen in May. This is considered a key site for the species, which remains rare in Northern Ireland.…