Save the Moat - Save the Sperrins

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Save the Moat - Save the Sperrins

We are a local group within the Sperrins formed to oppose developments of an industrial nature, which would be detrimental to our AONBs

11/06/2026

“Up the protectors”
A huge thank you to Paddy Nash for the video message 🎶

Paddy will be joining us at The Gathering – The Sperrins / Na Speiríní on Saturday 20th June, where he’ll be playing a few tunes as part of what is shaping up to be a really special day.

Join us from 10am at Silverbrook Mill, Donemana / Dunamanagh, for music, talks, workshops, walks, children’s activities, food, community and connection.

We only have a handful of Free tickets left via Eventbrite.

Ticket link in our bio.

07/06/2026

Some of the amazing protectors from Save The Moat – Save The Sperrins out at Strabane Jamm yesterday 💚

Standing up for our mountains, boglands, water, wildlife and rural communities…. and spreading the message that the Sperrins are not a sacrifice zone.

A huge thank you to everyone who stopped to chat, listen, ask questions and show such great support🌿⛰️

If you would like to help with the campaign, please get in touch.

Protect the Moat. Protect the Sperrins AONB. Protect what we love.

02/06/2026

✋It’s world Peatlands Day and we didn’t want to do the usual graphic…. Please watch and share…..

Peatlands are among the most important ecosystems on Earth. They store carbon, protect water, support biodiversity, preserve archaeology and help build climate resilience. Once damaged or destroyed, they can take thousands of years to recover.

That is why we have launched our new petition with Act Now NI calling for stronger legal protection for peatlands, a moratorium on destructive industrial development on peatlands, and an independent inquiry into how peatlands are assessed, mapped and protected in Northern Ireland.

Peatlands are not wasteland waiting for development. They are living ecosystems and part of our natural heritage. Protection and restoration must come first.

A huge thank you to everyone who took part in this video and helped us mark World Peatlands Day by sharing the simple message:

Stop destroying our peatlands. Please sign the petition.

Thank you to Jaki Conley from Progressive Politics NI, Dermot Devlin from My Way Access, Darragh Graham from Friends of the Earth NI, Mags from JourNI, Maeve O’Neill, Annie Francis, Sperrin Soul Forest School, Mabel Campbell from Save The Moat and Bradkeel Social Farm, Brian Gormley from Save The Moat, Pádraig Mac Niocaill from Save Lough Neagh, Anna Kernahan from Campaign for Commons, Save Benbradagh, Mary McGuiggan, Kerry McCrory and Denice Corbett from Save The Moat.

Please sign and share the petition. Every signature helps send a clear message that Northern Ireland’s peatlands must be protected for future generations.

30/05/2026

📢👏🏻The Mournes Decision Must Be the Line for All AONBs…..

We are delighted for Save The Mournes that they no longer have to endure this horrific ordeal and this sustained attack on their landscape. The withdrawal of the Gruggandoo wind factory proposal in the Mournes AONB shows that even after years of pressure, communities can stand firm and protected landscapes still matter. The Mournes are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and that designation had to mean something and this decision helps reinforce that it does.

But this cannot stop at the Mournes. We know from RenewableNI’s pipeline figures that the next wave of turbine development could see 300–400 industrial-scale turbines sited across the same three council areas, all connected to the Sperrins AONB. That is not just, not equal, and not remotely acceptable.

Derry City & Strabane - Fermanagh & Omagh & Causeway Coast & Glens…. All have hundreds more turbines planned for them.

This decision MUST set a precedent for every AONB under threat, especially the Sperrins, which are facing relentless industrialisation. The Sperrins are not a sacrifice zone for multinational companies. They are not a dumping ground for oversized wind energy proposals that would tear through peatland, damage habitats, industrialise wild landscapes, rivers and undermine the very qualities that make the area special.

If a proposal is too damaging for the Mournes, then the same principle must apply in the Sperrins AONB. RES, ABO, Orsted and other developers need to read the room and back off 🥾 Communities should not have to fight over and over again to protect places that should NEVER have been targeted in the first place.

Protected landscapes must be protected in practice, not just on paper. The Mournes decision sends a message that AONBs are not open for destruction, so off youse go 👋

29/05/2026

Two major articles this week stating that rising data centre demand is being linked to higher household electricity bills. The study they refer to was commissioned by Friends of the Earth Ireland and Beyond Fossil Fuels.

The Irish Times reports that data centre demand has already added hundreds of euro to household bills, while The Journal says Big Tech’s electricity demand has driven up prices and could add even more in the years ahead. The figures reported are absolutely huge…. around €715 million extra between 2015 and 2023, and up to €1.4 billion added to household electricity bills between 2025 and 2034.

That would appear to contradict what Peter McClenaghan from NIE Networks said at the DCSDC ‘Big Network Rebuild’ presentation. As we set out before, he said the North West should aim to increase electricity demand as much as possible, including through data centres and big industry, and that higher demand would spread network costs so everyone would pay less per unit.

But this new report is stating that ordinary households are already paying more because of data centres.

We already have data centre development approved in Derry, a 300MW Kilroot data-centre connection application has been referred to by the Utility Regulator, and the DfE has been talking about data centre clusters.

So if this is the state we are already in, what will even more of it mean for our bills, fuel poverty, the grid, our water, our landscapes, and our environment?

28/05/2026

🎶 A huge thank you to Conor O’Kane for sharing a few beautiful lines from the song Moorlough Mary.

This much loved local song is attributed to James Devine of Lough Ash around 1876. It is wonderful to hear these local songs, stories and traditions being carried forward.

We are really looking forward to having Conor with us at The Gathering – The Sperrins / Na Speiríní, where he will be playing music and chatting to people about seeds, sustainability and caring for the land.

Saturday 20th June from 10am at Silverbrook Mill, Donemana / Dunamanagh. Free tickets via Eventbrite and the link is in our bio.

27/05/2026

How dare they…
RES wants to tear into peatland, rivers, habitats and natural systems built up over millennia, in a landscape shaped over hundreds of millions of years. Right in the high Sperrin Mountains, within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

26/05/2026

This is the inside of a wind turbine foundation at Clarke Creek Wind Farm on the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia.

• Around 1,600 tonnes of concrete per turbine foundation
• Around 100 tonnes of reinforcing steel
• Approx. 600 cubic metres of reinforced concrete in a single base

Across the full project, that reportedly amounts to around 120,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete being poured into the landscape.

And after roughly 20 years, many of these foundations cannot simply be lifted out and reused. Questions remain around fatigue, decommissioning, embedded carbon, waste and what happens to these sites decades into the future.

What is this not doing to our peatlands here in the north and south of Ireland? And this is exactly the kind of industrialisation being proposed for the Sperrins AONB again and again…. across the same three council areas, with hundreds more onshore turbines still to come, while even our forests are now up for grabs.

21/05/2026

📍 Maintenance work underway on one of the turbines visible above the Binevenagh area today.

As wind turbine blades age, they are exposed constantly to rain, hail, dust etc. Over time this can lead to blade erosion, requiring specialist inspection and repair work such as this….

Across the country and internationally, growing questions and concern are also being raised about what happens to the material worn from turbine blades over their limited operational lifetime. Modern blades are made from composite materials including fibreglass, resins and industrial coatings, and concerns have been raised for years about the particles from erosion entering surrounding soils, drainage systems and watercourses.

There is also increasing scrutiny around the potential use of PFAS-related compounds and other persistent chemicals within industrial coatings and composite materials. While research is still developing, many people are now asking what long term monitoring is being carried out around large-scale wind factory developments. What is the cumulative impact of all of this.

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