Today, on the way back from a visit to the bank, we stopped of for a walk on a wide expanse of grassland. Now the above may look like a hayfield but is actually part of a vast area of reclamation where Oakdale Colliery used to be. It officially opened inn 1908.
In it's hey day, Oakdale employed over 2,250 men and produced over one million tons of coal per year. The original pit site was approximately 100 acre, with railways, dram roads and all the buildings associated with a busy working mine. It was the last deep mine to be worked in Gwent. In recent years it has become and I quote "a platform for industrial development" What that means, is open to the building of industrial estates, but sadly silica valley is not quite silicone valley! Those many acres cost over £10.000.000 to reclaim, with the whole area being levelled as flat as the Fens and like fenland it has it's loads or watery dykes where water flows and willow trees grow.
And also to my surprise and delight, orchids! Though quite which one, despite perusing my Francis Rose, "The Wildflower Key" I cannot quite identify. Notice the blackness in the background of this photo of an orchid >>>
all across this area are bare areas of coal shale.
And amazingly it is now ants >>>
that are the miniature modern day miners raising their own tiny coal tips in amongst the grasses.
These tiny creatures are quite capable of shifting ounces of earth in a day and their larger cousins, the wood ants manage to build relatively vast mountains of pine needle mounds in the forest. One has to wonder what they feed on in this relatively poor quality landscape?
Some of the area is very waterlogged, not that the mad mutt minded splashing about as
swallows swooped and dived low around him for an insect feast in the late afternoon sun.
<<< This golden dragonfly was not easy to photograph as it darted about amongst all the tall grasses. This is the best photo I could get of it, it may be a Darter, so if any one can identify it please let me know by posting a comment, the same goes for the orchid, my collection of books isn't always specific enough, (or I'm just not astute enough) Update ... the insect is a Broad Bodied Chaser. Thanks to a website, U.K. Safari. Check it out if you're interested in identifying U.K wildlife.
We've been coming here for a few years now and today it was great to see such a profusion of species of grasses and flowers re-carpeting the scarred acres with wildlife. I even saw a squirrel scampering over the ground. But other bright jewels of flowers are to be found.
As the years allow growth and as nature takes over, it is becoming a joy to walk here.
I also noticed some very small, but significant oak seedlings growing well,
at a guess by the name, there were once a lot of mature oak trees here.
Here's to the future maturation of this sadly scarred site.
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