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Lough Foyle (Loch Feabhail in Irish
Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people....
) is the name given to the estuary
Estuary

An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
 of the River Foyle
River Foyle

The River Foyle is a river in west Ulster in the northwest of Ireland, which flows from the confluence of the rivers River Finn and River Mourne at the towns of Lifford in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, and Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland....
 in Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
.






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Lough Foyle
Shipapproachinggreencastleloughfoyle 2004 Seanmcclean
Lough Foyle (Loch Feabhail in Irish
Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people....
) is the name given to the estuary
Estuary

An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
 of the River Foyle
River Foyle

The River Foyle is a river in west Ulster in the northwest of Ireland, which flows from the confluence of the rivers River Finn and River Mourne at the towns of Lifford in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, and Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland....
 in Ulster
Ulster

Ulster is one of the four Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, in addition to Connacht, Munster and Leinster. The name is sometimes informally used as a synonym for Northern Ireland, one of the countries of the United Kingdom, although Northern Ireland covers only two thirds of Ulster....
. It starts where the Foyle leaves Derry
Derry

Derry or Londonderry , often called the Maiden City, is a City status in the United Kingdom in Northern Ireland....
. It separates the Inishowen
Inishowen

Inishowen is a peninsula in County Donegal, and also the largest peninsula in Ireland. It pre-dates the formation of the county in which it is located by centuries....
 Peninsula
Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of Landform that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus. Word origin: Latin paeninsula : paene, almost + insula, island....
 in County Donegal
County Donegal

County Donegal is a county located in the west of the Province of Ulster, in the northwest of Ireland. It is one of three counties in the Province of Ulster that do not form part of Northern Ireland....
 from County Londonderry
County Londonderry

County Londonderry or County Derry is one of the six Counties of Ireland of Northern Ireland in the Provinces of Ireland of Ulster in Ireland....
 in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
.

There is a saying, that when one is on a boat on Lough Foyle, one is at the only place in the world where north is south, and south is north. (The Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
, even Donegal, is referred to as "the South" by many in Northern Ireland, while "the North" is a common term for Northern Ireland).

Transport

  • In the summer time, a ferry
    Ferry

    A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, used to carry passengers and their vehicles across a body of water. Ferries are also used to transport freight and even railroad cars....
     service operates between Donegal and County Londonderry over Lough Foyle.
  • The Broharris Canal
    Broharris Canal

    The Broharris Canal is a canal situated in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It was constructed in the 1820s when a cut, some 3.2 km long on the south shore of Lough Foyle near Ballykelly, County Londonderry was made in the direction of Limavady....
     was constructed in the 1820s when a cut, some two miles long on the south shore of Lough Foyle near Ballykelly was made in the direction of Limavady
    Limavady

    Limavady is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Benevenagh as a backdrop. It is 27km east of Derry and 23km south west of Coleraine....
    . It served both as a drainage channel and a navigation with goods being brought from the port of Derry, and shellfish
    Shellfish

    Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton bearing aquatic invertebrate used as food, including various species of Molluscas, crustaceans, and echinoderms....
     and kelp
    Kelp

    Kelp are large seaweed plants , belonging to the brown algae and classified in the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genus. Some species can be very long and form kelp forests....
     from the sand banks along the shore.
  • In 1792 the four mile Strabane Canal
    Strabane Canal

    Strabane Canal is a canal in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. In 1791 an Act was passed authorising the construction of a 6.4 km canal from the tidal waters of Lough Foyle at Leck, some 16 km upstream from Derry, to Strabane....
     was constructed from the tidal waters of Lough Foyle at Leck
    Leck

    Leck is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 30 km north of Husum, Germany, and 30 km west of Flensburg....
    , to Strabane. The canal fell into disuse in 1962. In June 2006 the Strabane Lifford Development Commission
    Strabane Lifford Development Commission

    Strabane Lifford Development Commission is a cross-border body in Ireland, to develop cultural and economic development ties between Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland and Lifford in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, just across the border marked by the River Foyle....
     awarded a £1.3m cross-border waterways restoration contract. The project involves the restoration of one and a half miles of canal and two locks to working order. Work is due to start on the Lough Foyle side of the canal in the summer of 2006.


Flora and fauna


Flora

A survey of Lough Foyle was made between March 1937 and June 1939 by H. Blackler. In this a map shows the distribution of certain species of algae
Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds....
 in the lough and a full annotated list of the algae recorded along with photographs of the different sites. The list included: Cyanophyceae, Chlorophyceae
Chlorophyceae

The Chlorophyceae are one of the classes of green algae, distinguished mainly on the basis of ultrastructural morphology. For example the chlorophycean CW clade, and chlorophycean DO clade, are defined by the arrangement of their flagella....
, Phaeophyceae, Rhodophyceae
Rhodophyceae

The Rhodophyceae are the sole class of rhodophyta....
, lichens and two species of Zostera
Zostera

Zostera is a small genus of widely distributed seagrass, commonly called marine eelgrass or simply eelgrass. It contains twelve species....
. The marine algae of Lough Foyle are also included in Morton (2003).

Fauna

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is a United Kingdom charitable organisation which works to promote bird conservation and protection of birds and the wider Natural environment through public awareness campaigns, petitions and through the operation of nature reserves throughout the United Kingdom....
 has a reserve
Bird Reserve

A bird reserve is a wildlife refuge designed to protect bird species. Like other wildlife refuges, the main goal of a reserve is to prevent species from becoming Endangered species or Extinction....
 at the lough.

Ramsar site

The Lough Foyle Ramsar site (wetlands of international importance designated under the Ramsar Convention
Ramsar Convention

File:RAMSAR-logo.gifThe Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental Ecology functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational val...
), is 2204.36 hectares in area, at Latitude 55 05 24 N and Longitude 07 01 37 W. It was designated a Ramsar site on 2 February 1999. The site consists of a large shallow sea lough which includes the estuaries of the rivers Foyle, Faughan and Roe
River Roe (Northern Ireland)

The River Roe flows north from Glenshane in the Sperrins to Lough Foyle, via the settlements of Dungiven, Burnfoot, Limavady and Myroe. The river is contained within County Londonderry in Northern Ireland....
. It contains extensive intertidal areas of mudflats and sandflats, salt marsh and associated brackish ditches. The site qualified under Criterion 1 of the Ramsar Convention
Ramsar Convention

File:RAMSAR-logo.gifThe Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental Ecology functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational val...
 because it is a particularly good representative example of a wetland complex which plays a substantial hydrological, biological and ecological system role in the natural functioning of a major river basin located in a trans-border position. It also qualified under Ramsar criterion 2 as it supports an appreciable number of rare, vulnerable or endangered species of plant and animal. A range of notable fish species have been recorded for the Lough Foyle estuary and the lower reaches of some of its tributary rivers. These include Allis shad
Allis shad

The allis shad is a species of fish in the Clupeidae family. It is found in Algeria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom....
, Twait shad
Twait shad

The twait shad or twaite shad is a species of fish in the Clupeidae family. It is found in Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Ru...
, Smelt and Sea lamprey
Sea lamprey

The sea lamprey is a parasitic lamprey found on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America, in the western Mediterranean Sea, and in the Great Lakes....
, all of which are Irish Red Data Book species. Important populations of Atlantic salmon
Atlantic salmon

Atlantic salmon, known scientifically as Salmo salar, is a species of fish in the family Salmonidae, which is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into the Atlantic and the Pacific....
 migrate through the system to and from their spawning grounds.

The site also qualified under Ramsar criterion 3 as it supports a large numbers of wintering waterfowl including internationally important populations of Whooper Swan
Whooper Swan

The Whooper Swan is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Old World counterpart of the North American Trumpeter Swan....
, Light-bellied Brent Goose
Brent Goose

The Brent Goose , a goose of the genus Branta, is known in North America as Brant. The spelling "Brant" is the original one, with "Brent" being a later Folk etymology idea that it was derived from a classical Greek waterbird name brenthos....
 and Bar-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit

The Bar-tailed Godwit is a large wader in the family Scolopacidae, which breeds on Arctic coasts and tundra mainly in the Old World, and winters on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of the Old World....
, as well as wildfowl species which are nationally important in an all-Ireland context, including Red-throated Diver
Red-throated Diver

The Red-throated Diver , known in North America as the Red-throated Loon, is a bird migration aquatic bird that is found in the Climate_zone#GROUP_C:_Temperate.2Fmesothermal_climates of the northern hemisphere....
, Great Crested Grebe
Great Crested Grebe

The Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus is a member of the grebe family of water birds....
, Mute Swan
Mute Swan

The Mute Swan is a Eurasian member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. Although they tend to be quieter than other kinds of swans, they are not mute, and do vocalize....
, Bewick’s Swan, Greylag Goose
Greylag Goose

The Greylag Goose , Anser anser, is a bird with a wide range in the Old World. It is the type species of the genus Goose.It was in pre-Carolus Linnaeus times known as the Wild Goose ....
, Shelduck
Shelduck

The Shelducks, genus Tadorna, are a group of large birds in the Tadorninae subfamily of the Anatidae, the biological family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the goose and swans....
, Common Teal
Common Teal

The 'Common Teal' or 'Eurasian Teal' is a common and widespread duck which breeds in temperate Eurasia and bird migration south in winter. It is the Old World counterpart of the North American Green-winged Teal , which was formerly considered a subspecies of A....
, Mallard
Mallard

The Mallard , probably the best-known and most recognizable of all ducks, is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical areas of North America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand , and Australia....
, Eurasian Wigeon, Common Eider
Common Eider

The Common Eider, Somateria mollissima, is a large Merginae, which is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia....
, and Red-breasted Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser

The Red-breasted Merganser is a diving duck.Its Reproduction Habitat is freshwater lakes and rivers across northern North America, Greenland, Europe and Asia....
. Nationally important wader species include Eurasian Oystercatcher
Eurasian Oystercatcher

The Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus, also known as the Common Pied Oystercatcher, or just Oystercatcher, is a wader in the oystercatcher bird family Haematopodidae....
, Eurasian Golden Plover
Eurasian Golden Plover

The Eurasian Golden Plover, Pluvialis apricaria, is a largish plover. This species is similar to two other golden plovers. American Golden Plover, Pluvialis dominiica, and Pacific Golden Plover, Pluvialis fulva, are both smaller, slimmer and relatively longer-legged than Eurasian Golden Plover, and both have grey rather th...
, Grey Plover
Grey Plover

The Grey Plover , known as the Black-bellied Plover in North America, is a medium-sized plover breeding in arctic regions. It is a long-distance bird migration, with a nearly world-wide coastal distribution when not breeding....
, Lapwing
Lapwing

Vanellinae are a subfamily of medium-sized wading birds belonging to the family Charadriidae, which also includes the plovers and dotterels. The Vanellinae are collectively called lapwings but also contain the ancient Red-kneed Dotterel....
, Red Knot
Red Knot

The Red Knot, Calidris canutus , is a medium sized wader which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia....
, Dunlin
Dunlin

The Dunlin, Calidris alpina, is a small wader, sometimes separated with the other "stints" in Erolia. It is a circumpolar breeder in Arctic or subarctic regions....
, Eurasian Curlew
Eurasian Curlew

The Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is the one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia....
, Common Redshank
Common Redshank

The Common Redshank or Redshank is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. It is closest to the small Wood Sandpiper, and also closely related to the Marsh Sandpiper ....
 and Greenshank
Greenshank

The Greenshank Tringa nebularia is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. Its closest relative is the Greater Yellowlegs, together with which and the Spotted Redshank it forms a close-knit group....
.

Literature

The main character of Alfred Bester
Alfred Bester

Alfred Bester , known to his friends as Alfie, was an American science fiction authors, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books....
's famous science-fiction novel, The Stars My Destination
The Stars My Destination

The Stars My Destination is a science fiction novel by Alfred Bester . Originally serialized in Galaxy science fiction in four parts beginning with the October 1956 issue, it first appeared in book form as Tiger! Tiger! when published in England, where it remains widely known under that title....
, is named Gulliver Foyle. Bester took the names of his characters from various locations in Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
 and Great Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
.

See also

  • List of loughs in Northern Ireland
  • List of Ramsar sites in Northern Ireland
    List of Ramsar sites in Northern Ireland

    Ramsar sites in Northern Ireland are wetlands of international importance designated under the Ramsar Convention. In the United Kingdom, the first Ramsar sites were designated in 1976....