Just as our natural landscape bears the enduring imprint of the ice age, creatures such as the Arctic char are surviving examples of our wildlife from that cold period

These slender trout-like freshwater fish were once widespread in Northern Ireland but became extinct in Lough Neagh about 1844 and in Lough Erne in the early twentieth century.

It leaves Lough Melvin along with a small lake nearby as the only places in Northern Ireland to contain Arctic char.

However, as these are deep-water fish it is possible that they exist in other lakes elsewhere on the island, but have yet to be discovered.

They are Ireland’s most ancient freshwater fish species.