Frozen in its greenery between the grey concrete estates of Lenadoon and Poleglass, Colin Glen is west Belfast's urban jungle, a woodland glen in one of the most densely populated parts of the city. Three miles from top to bottom, the glen has long been used by residents.
Some 150 years ago, the glen's clay deposits were mined for bricks. Fifty years ago, its trees were felled as part of the British war effort against Hitler. More recently, when Andersonstown, Lenadoon and Suffolk became fully-fledged housing estates, it became a place of escape and exploration for countless youngsters.
And that tradition of escape and exploration has continued under the guidance of the Colin Glen Trust, an organisation set up to manage and protect this unique rural environment in the city.
This is the trust's 10th anniversary and its director, Timothy Duffy, remembers its mission with pride: "It was formed by local community organisations who got together with a view to winning back Colin Glen which, because of the pressures of urban development at that stage, had turned into nothing more than an urban dump land."
They approached the glen's owners, the Department of the Environment, with an offer of a partnership: in return for financing the development of the property (£170,000 a year), the trust would undertake to clean up the area and provide jobs and training for local people.
"It was seen as a nice marriage," says Duffy. And it has flourished. Ten years on, the trust has provided about 860 training opportunities for local people, created "huge" goodwill for the project and ensured public ownership of the glen. Currently, the trust has 28 staff employed under a government work scheme.
Duffy sees the park not only as an amenity but also as an economic development opportunity, and the trust has adopted an imaginative scheme to ensure the park's future by taking over a local golf course. What was a loss-making venture has now been turned into a profit-making one. In addition to providing the trust with a source of income, the course is viewed as quality green space. Rough has become meadow.
Occasionally, the city's social problems spill over. "There are tremendous pressures on the park because of its urban situation," says Duffy. "It is the only valuable open space left in west Belfast and, as such, comes in for a lot of attention both from quality users and from those who would prefer to misuse the park."
But to the management's credit, there is little evidence of misuse. Stray empty cans and one glue-sniffer's bag were the only evidence of misuse to be seen on a three-hour walk through the glen.
Education is the key to the area's continued good health. The trust has initiated a programme where school children visit to learn about this unique environment.
The man responsible for overseeing the education programme is John Terrington. Under his guidance, 8,000 school children visit and learn about the glen's environment every year. Last year alone, 570 young people took part in tree-planting. Terrington and his team work with schools: looking at plants, animals, insects, life in the rivers and the woodlands.
While the lower glen had been neglected and vandalised, the upper glen (owned by the National Trust but managed by the Colin Glen Trust) remained relatively unscathed from the second World War onwards.
The trust began its Herculean tasks by cleaning the Colin river (the main tributary of the River Lagan) and clearing up the rubbish and dumped cars. Gradually, wildlife began to return. The lower river can now sustain brown trout. Red squirrel, a species under threat from the American grey squirrel, have been noted. In the upper glen, otter, herons and fox live and have, on occasion, begun to make forays further downstream.
The emphasis is on encouraging native trees (oak, ash, silver birch and willow) and other flora while managing non-native interlopers and thereby giving the visitor a fuller understanding of the glen. By clearing out undergrowth and removing non-native trees and shrubs, wildflowers soon began to return. Terrington pointed out wild garlic, yellow lesser celandine and dog violets.
Another major achievement has been to reclaim a landfill site for Mother Nature. What was once a scrap metal yard full of rusting cars is now grassland ablaze under gorse. This new habitat has attracted kestrels which can be seen hovering for food.
Running water and bird-song drown out the noise of black taxis and buses. Chaffinches, thrushes, blackbirds and robins are all to be seen and heard. On one path, a pile of bloodied feathers hints at a sparrowhawk feeding. It's a jungle out there - but a well-managed one.