Grasslands on Restored Coal Waste

A large part of West Glamorgan east of Gower lies within the South Wales Coalfield where coal mining was widespread in most of the main valleys in the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the legacies of this was the accumulation of large amounts of colliery waste that were built up into mounds or pyramids called coal tips. Coal tips were once commonplace in the Neath, Dulais, Afan and upper Tawe valleys and remained there as reminders of the 'age of coal' even after the collieries had closed in the dacades after the Second World War. However, the social, health and environmental problems associated with them, not least their instability and the risk of landslides, prompted action to landscape, restore and stabilise them. Some were subject to revegatation schemes that were augmented by natural colonisation by native and alien plant species. A good example can be found in the village of Bryn where a spectacular, pyramid-shaped tip that remained after the closure of the Bryn Navigation Colliery in 1963, was re-landscaped and restored to grassland. Now a Local Nature Reserve, Bryn Tip has developed a diverse flora which includes a complex mosaic of grassland communities. As well as typical species of neutral, mesotrophic grassland such as Crested Dog's-tail (Cynosurus cristatus), Common Bent (Agrostis capillaris) and Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), there are calcicole species such as Downy Oat-grass (Avenula pubescens), Yellow Oat-grass (Trisetum flavescens) and Carline Thistle (Carlina vulgaris) and large swards of Heath Grass (Danthonia decumbens). Other notable feature include an extensive population of Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) and a diverse sedge flora that includes Pale Sedge (Carex pallescens) and Grey Sedge (Carex divulsa). Large amounts of Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana) on the tip sustain a significant population of Dark-green Fritillary butterflies which are common there in early summer.

Large areas of land have been restored to grassland after opencast mining at the head of the Neath Valley, between Glyn Neath and Rhigos. Some of the new field compartments support colourful plant communities with Ragged Robin (Silene flos-cuculi), Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica), Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare), Betony (Stachys officinalis), Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris), Zig-zag Clover (Trifolium medium), Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra), Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) and others. Notable species there include Rostkov's Eyebright (Euphrasia officianalis subsp. pratensis), Greater Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis), Yellow Bartsia (Parentucellia viscosa), Dyer's Greenweed (Genista tinctoria), Whorled Carraway (Carum verticillatum), Devil's-bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis) and Pale Sedge (Carex pallescens).