…a blog from Buglife Cymru Conservation Assistant, Ashleigh Davies originally written for Gwent Wildlife Trust’s autumn magazine.
An evening event at Gwent Wildlife Trust’s Silent Valley Woodlands Reserve offered guests the chance to explore both the heritage and biodiversity of this remarkable site led by Phil from Heneb and Buglife’s Coal Spoil Connections Team. With a rich history stretching from the Bronze Age to the coal revolution, Silent Valley has been shaped by thousands of years of human use and is still home to fascinating echoes of history and wildlife today.
Evidence of iron smelting has been discovered at Silent Valley, along with remnants of Victorian dram tracks once used to transport coal through the woodland. The site also holds other archaeological features, including the remains of old horse stables from the mining era and indentations left by ancient bloomeries and the presence of iron slag.
Silent Valley is equally important for its natural heritage, it is the highest and most westerly beech woodland in the UK, which is a rarity. Beech trees typically live for only 350 – 400 years, compared with oak trees that can survive for more than a millennium. Surrounding the woodland, Silent Valley also supports valuable heathland habitat, a variety of fungi, and is also home to the endangered Grayling Butterfly (Hipparchia semele).
The evening walk began at the car park, with the first stop at an archaeological feature, the remains of a bloomery. Here, Phil shared how these iron-smelting sites were identified, how they were built, and what they were used for. The group continued through the ancient beech woodland, pausing at another bloomery before heading towards the track once used by the Victorian coal mine dramway. Emerging onto the coal spoil tip, participants paused to take in the view, where heather, grasses and gorse now carpet the spoil. As the sun began to set, Liam Olds from Buglife gave a talk on the ecological importance of coal spoil and the extraordinary biodiversity these sites support. Following the trail, the group came across the ruins of a small stable, once used to house pit ponies. The area is also known for its sightings of the Lemon Slug (Malacolimax tenellus), a rare and fascinating species due to being an ancient woodland indicator species. The UK only has a coverage of 2.5% of ancient woodlands and the lemon slugs are tied to the fungi they feed on from these rare ancient sites. The walk finished back at the car park, where tea, coffee, and biscuits rounded off the evening, a fitting close to a journey through Silent Valley’s remarkable past and present.
Species we saw: Lots of fungi species, Cladonia lichen, Tree Slugs (Lehmannia marginata), Broom Moth caterpillar (Ceramica pisi), Devil’s Coach-horse beetle (Ocypus olens), ground beetles, Kestrels, Buzzards.
Notable species: Lemon Slug, Grayling butterfly, Winberry Bumblebee (Bombus monticola), Heath Bumblebee (Bombus jonellus), Small Pearl-bordered Butterfly (Boloria selene), Small Flecked Mining Bee (Andrena coitana), Green Hairsteak (Callophrys rubi)
Learn more about the Coal Spoil Connections here.
All Image Credits: © Ashleigh Davies