ENVIRONMENTALISTS have voiced concern that work linked to the construction of the new A6 has been carried out close to an area used by protected swans.
In recent weeks hundreds of migrating Whooper Swans have gathered near the route of a planned £160m dual carriageway between Toome and Castledawson.
Each winter hundreds of swans fly from Iceland to feed on grassland in the area before returning north in the spring.
The distinctive birds are a familiar sight for people who regularly use the existing road outside Toome.
The A6 project, which is intended to speed up travel time between Belfast and Derry, is currently the subject of a High Court challenge by an environmentalist.
Some campaigners are also worried that the planned route will cut through an area of countryside closely associated with poet Seamus Heaney, while others have expressed concern about the impact on the local environment.
Earlier this year the Irish News reported that the Nobel Laureate was opposed to the planned route near Lough Beg before his death in 2013.
In recent months preparatory work linked with the road project has been carried out in the wider area, including an architectural dig.
Friends of the Earth director James Orr said Whooper Swans are “very sensitive breeds” and claimed such work could have breached the government's "own habitat assessment”.
However, the Department for Infrastructure said: “All works adjacent to the Lough Beg and Lough Neagh Special Protection Area, home to the protected Whooper Swans, have been completed in accordance with our environmental commitments.”
It added that it has consulted closely with a Whooper Swan Working Group and is “content that it has fully fulfilled its obligations”.
