'WHy i volunteer'
The dune system at Portstewart Strand, County Londonderry, is 6,000 years old. Long-term dune volunteer William – known as BT – has been leading butterfly safaris and sharing his knowledge with visitors for 40 years
Above BT loves showing people the varied wildlife that lives on the dunes
ortstewart Strand is a wild space on our doorstep. I’ve lived here most of my life and played on the sand and among the dunes as a youngster.
I began volunteering here in 1986. I’d had a heart attack and I started walking on the beach again, as it was flat. I began to notice things I hadn’t when I used to play here as a child. I’m an engineer by trade and I wanted to find out more, so I got a book to see what plants and other wildlife was there. The National Trust team caught on that I knew a bit about it and asked me to take people on tours to show them the dunes and tell them what was living there.
People tend to look at the dune system as nothing but heaps of sand with spiky grass and prickly buckthorn. They often think it’s not terribly interesting until someone like me comes along and points out there are actually things here that are very fragile and beautiful, like bee orchids. They come up at the end of May and only last a month, but they’re absolutely beautiful. People are always surprised you can have orchids in sand dunes.
Above Visitors exploring Portstewart Strand, County Londonderry
I did a butterfly conservation survey here for years in the summer months and I still lead the odd butterfly safari showing people what butterflies they can find. I find butterfly populations come and go. Some years the common blues will be in ones and twos and another year you find them in groups of 20 or 30 at one time. Occasionally we find big flocks of painted ladies, which come all the way over from North Africa. About 35 species of butterfly can be found across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and I’ve seen 18 of those in the dunes here over the years. We also see shelducks, which nest in rabbit holes, badgers, hares, curlews and lapwings on the river which runs past the dunes.
It’s a fragile ecosystem and there’s always something new to find and see. I come back home after a day’s volunteering and feel I’ve put something back, maybe inspired someone to look at the dune system in a different light. It’s very satisfying.
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