Aidan Crean has been taking Belfast wildlife walks and N. Ireland birdwatching tours for over twenty years. He is an award-winning local environmentalist and has been an active bird ringer for 30 years. Born and grew up in Belfast, he is presently a licensed Trainer and Supervisor with the British Trust for Ornithology. Aidan lectured in ornithology at Queens University and is presently Honorary Chairperson of Belfast & Down Ringing Group, ringing 4000 wild birds per year across Ireland. 

He is a Director on the Board of the Belfast Hills Partnership and in January 2020 completed his Level 4 Cert HE blue badge in Tour Guiding. 

Aidan played a prominent role in the campaign to create the Bog Meadows Nature Reserve in 1998 achieving UNESCO Man & Biosphere status in 2004.

He was instrumental in the National Trust NT acquisition of Divis & Black Mountain 2005, is a key founder of the Belfast Hills Partnership BHP 2005. Aidan was involved in the 1980’s campaign for ASSI designation of Belfast Lough & the creation of the RSPB Windows on Wildlife nature reserve at Belfast harbour.

As an enthusiastic bird ringer Aidan has organised bird ringing expeditions to several uninhabited islands along Ireland’s western seaboard and led bird watching trips to various European countries and Africa. He continues to run BTO scientific summer research programmes in their twentieth consecutive year at Ulster Wildlife’s Belfast Bog Meadows Nature Reserve and from 2016, for Mid Ulster Council at the Lough Neagh RAMSAR sites at Ballyronan & Oxford Island. 

Aidan has won local, council, banking and tourism awards for services to conservation and in 2006 was nominated by Northern Ireland Environment Agency and won the EU ‘European Volunteer of the Year Award’ for ‘highly achieving’ services to nature conservation across N. Ireland.

During 2020 covid-19 lockdown, Aidan delivered a popular wildlife programme for Lough Neagh Partnership of ‘fresh-air’ tours around the lough, bringing the connected themes of nature, well-being and the great outdoors together in a safe, fun-based manner.  

His wildlife tour programme for Spring 2022 is presently booked-up.  

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