Local environmental charities will receive nearly £250,000 from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to carry out projects over the next three months.

Over 40 projects will receive funding of up to £10,000 each to carry out work to benefit Northern Ireland’s people and wildlife.

Bats in Londonderry, red squirrels in Fermanagh, puffins on the Copeland Islands, seabirds in Strangford Lough and butterflies throughout Northern Ireland will benefit.

Selected projects will decrease wildfires in the Belfast Hills, construct weirs in the Dun River in the Causeway Coast and Glens and manage woodland at the Crom Estate in Fermanagh. Port Moon Bothy will have improved facilities, sand dune erosion will be managed by volunteers at Tyrella and children in the north east will hatch salmon in their own classrooms and release them in local rivers. Anti-littering campaigns, environmental education websites, school energy conservation programmes, a poster promotion of nature’s financial benefits, a sustainable food conference and digitisation of architectural records have also been supported.

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Minister Attwood stated: "This is a fantastic programme which challenged local environmental charities to devise and deliver projects on a very short timescale. I am delighted with the level of interest and the quality of the proposals. It is good to be able to congratulate the groups on meeting the ‘challenge’ set by my Environment Agency. I look forward to seeing the results of all of these exciting local environmental projects."

(CD/GK)