Cliftonville FC: Living mural gives house martins a home

A new ‘living mural’ at the home of an Irish league premiership team is bringing more than just a splash of colour to the grounds.

Cliftonville Football Club in north Belfast is offering a new home to endangered house martins.

Their numbers are in decline across the UK and Ireland partly due to a lack of suitable nesting sites.

Nesting cups have been incorporated into the mural at one of the stands in the club’s Solitude stadium. These cups mimic the mud nests that house martins create for their broods.

The Solitude stadium sits next to the Waterworks, which conservationists describe as an important site for a variety of species.

It’s the first instalment of Safari in the City, a project which hopes to combine art and conservation in Belfast’s urban environment.

Between now and the end of October, there will be a number of other murals popping up in different locations in the Belfast City Council area which will target the conservation of a variety of other native species including swifts, bats and invertebrates.

Murals have always had a message in Northern Ireland but this initiative brings a new dimension to Belfast’s mural history.

Conor McKinney and Perla Mansour of WildBelfast are leading the project, and say they are trying to build on the recent resurgence of public art in the city.

“The artwork itself is celebrating the species and the fact that it is there. The hope is to highlight that the Waterworks is an important place for house martins.

“We also wanted to show how easy it is to make conservation interventions using the blank canvases of the walls in our city,” Mr McKinney added.

Ecologists, artists and members of the community collaborated to establish which species are endangered in a particular area.

Alasdair McKee from the RSPB said since 1969 “we have lost around 60% of our house martins in the UK and that decline is continuing”.

“In 2020 they were added to the red list of species of most concern and in need of urgent action to protect them,” he said.

“House martins have been our close neighbours for centuries and are a part of our heritage,” he added.

Italian artist Daniela Balmaverde said that one of the main inspirations for the piece was the Cliftonville women’s team.

“The club really seem to care about the environment and the surrounding community, so there is the caring element of the woman seen holding the nest to symbolise this,” she said.

“We, as the artists, are working closely with ecologists and the community, running workshops as well, to ensure each piece is integrated in each location.”

Club member Joe Gallagher said the club, the current Irish Cup holders, had a vision.

“This is a quirky and unusual thing that came along whereby we can have a positive impact on the surrounding environment.

“We would love to see other areas of these grounds developed not only as stands but to incorporate other facilities that the community could use.”

Mr Gallagher said that he believes the mural represents the “liberal and welcoming views” of the club.

“I was shocked to realise that house martins are an endangered species, and I think it’s wonderful that the club can do something positive and be a model for what other people could be doing,” he added.

When the nesting season comes around in the spring, the birds coming to utilise the nesting sites will not be the first house martins to pay a visit to Solitude.

Paul Heaton, lead singer of the English indie rock group The Housemartins is a well-known Cliftonville fan.

He has visited the club in the past to meet Celtic legend Danny McGrain and Cliftonville’s George McMullan.