Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative

Join us tomorrow for this special talk by entomologist and coal spoil nature champion Liam Olds!

3 weeks since launching our 'Save the Small Blue at Cwm Tips' #Crowdfunder and we’ve raised £915 - nearly halfway! 💙

Thank you for your support 💚

If you would like to donate, visit: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-the-s...

#SaveTheSmallBlue #GloiNatur #CoaltoNature #Nature #Wales #Cymru #Wildlife

🎄 Merry Christmas & Happy New Year / Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda 🎄

Thank you to all who’ve supported us through our transition to Glo i Natur CIC 💚

2026 is shaping up to be an exciting year - with events, training and new projects ahead. Keep an eye on our socials for updates!

Visited the Lewis Merthyr coal tip above Trehafod last weekend. Once industrial spoil, it’s now heather, whinberry, lichens & warm bare ground supporting specialist wildlife. Conifers are creeping in, so management is key. Even in winter it’s beautiful 💚

#GloiNatur #CoaltoNature #CoalSpoil

Great to speak with the Nature Restoration & Forestry students from Black Mountain College in Treherbert today about coal spoil wildlife. Sharing this knowledge is vital - inspiring future practitioners to recognise the biodiversity value of these sites. 🌿💚

We usually showcase the plants, fungi & invertebrates of coal spoil sites - but here’s some of the hidden life too 🐭

Wood Mice sheltering under a metal sheet at Darren Fawr Tip in the Garw Valley.

Coal tips: full of surprises, even in winter.

#GloiNatur #CoaltoNature #SouthWalesValleys

Tufa springs on coal tips 💦

These rare micro-habitats form where water passing through coal spoil picks up calcium - likely from ancient marine bands - and deposits it at the surface. Unusual in the acidic Valleys, and vital for specialist wildlife like soldierflies.

#GloiNatur #CoaltoNature

🌿 A new chapter begins.

After 10 years of raising awareness of coal spoil biodiversity, the Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative is evolving into Glo i Natur CIC - continuing the same mission with new opportunities ahead.

➡️ Follow @gloinatur.bsky.social - this account will shortly be replaced 💚

A colllage of images showing wildlife found on coal spoil sites in South Wales, including Celtic Ghost Millipede (Psichrosoma cf breuili), Adder, Salmon Salad Fungus, Tormentil Mining Bee (Andrena tarsata), Deptford Pink, a Cladonia lichen, and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterfly. Pictures of people and a colliery also feature.

We’re excited to announce the launch of Glo i Natur CIC - a new community interest company dedicated to protecting, restoring, and celebrating the unique biodiversity and heritage of South Wales’ coal spoil sites. 🌿

Follow our journey from coal to nature: gloinatur.org

#GloiNatur #NatureRecovery

Thanks to your support, we’ve helped shine a light on these misunderstood places and put colliery spoil biodiversity on the map.

💚 As we celebrate this milestone, we’re also looking ahead. A new chapter begins this Friday… and we can’t wait to share it with you!

Watch this space 👀

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Over the past decade, these incredible landscapes have featured on BBC and ITV programmes, in books, articles, conservation plans, and nature conservation policy - and our surveys have even revealed species new to Wales and Britain.

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🎉 Celebrating 10 Years of the Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative 🎉

This December marks 10 years since the Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative began its mission to change how people see South Wales’ colliery spoil sites — from barren relics of industry to thriving havens for wildlife.

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Check out our new insect decline paper. By analysing 36 yrs of German ground beetle distribution data, we show:
- ~80% of species have declined, with significant declines for >50%.
- The decline was similar across species traits and threatened status.
doi.org/10.1111/ddi.... @consbiog.bsky.social

👻 Meet the Ghost Slug this #Halloween! 🐌

The Ghost Slug (Selenochlamys ysbryda) is a mysterious predator that hunts earthworms deep underground. Its scientific name comes from the Welsh word ysbryd, meaning ghost or spirit - a fitting title for a rather elusive creature!

#GhostSlug #SpookySpecies

Exploring a coal spoil site near Aberdare today, we found the flat-backed millipede Polydesmus barberii.

This non-native species, first seen in Britain in 1995, has only recently been discovered in Wales. Today's find is just the fourth known site in Wales — and the third in the Cynon Valley!

🐞🌿 Join us for Blaenavon Biodiversity Day on Sat 20 Sept!
Guided walks with local experts on insects, fungi, birds + more.
Don’t miss @liamolds.bsky.social from @collieryspoil.bsky.social leading an insect/invertebrate walk!

📍 Blaenavon | 🗓️ 20 Sept

Join the Buglife Cymru Coal Spoil Connections team, Lost Peatlands Project - Prosiect Adfer Mawndiroedd, KeyCreate, and others for a WildBlitz at Clydach Vale Country Park!

🗓️ Friday 29 August
🕙 10:30 - 15:00
📌 Clydach Vale Country Park

No need to book, just turn up at Cambrian Colliery Memorial.

Hieroglyphic Ladybird (Coccinella hieroglyphica) from heathland at Sirhowy Hill Woodlands, Blaenau Gwent, this morning.

Last night we visited Gelli Tips and were treated to a beautiful scene – the evening sunlight casting a golden glow over the tips, with the heather in full bloom. 💜🌿

We also captured some breathtaking drone footage that will feature in an upcoming video for Buglife’s Coal Spoil Connections project.

An Evening Of History and Wildlife at Silent Valley - Friday 8th August, 6:30pm start

Join Buglife's Coal Spoil Connections Team and @henebtwa.bsky.social for a guided walk through Silent Valley Nature Reserve.

For further info and booking, visit: www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

A few spaces have become available on the 'Bee and butterfly guided walk' at #Mumbles 🦋🐝

Fri 1 August 10.00am – 12.00pm and 1.00pm – 3.00pm

Meeting point: outside Forte's, Mumbles Road, Mumbles, #Swansea SA3 4JT
What3words ///fields.sobered.sharpens

👉Booking required: www.trybooking.com/uk/EWZL

🟣 Berytinus crassipes & B. montivagus (stilt bugs)
🟣 Doratura stylata & Rhopalopyx adumbrata (leafhoppers)

Once again, colliery spoil is proving just how special it is — supporting species you won’t easily find elsewhere. There's real ecological value in these overlooked landscapes. 💚

Today's survey was a great success, turning up a number of uncommon invertebrates, including:

🟣 Feathered Stem-moth (Ochsenheimeria taurella)
🟣 Top-horned Hunchback (Acrocera orbiculus)
🟣 Adelphocoris seticornis (plant bug)

This year we've been working with the South Wales Trunk Road Agency to survey roadside verges for invertebrates around Merthyr Tydfil. Today we made our final visit to a very special verge in Dowlais. Comprising colliery spoil, it's proving to be a real hidden gem for biodiversity!

Back to Sirhowy Hill Woodlands today to continue the invertebrate survey. The reserve looked lovely, and great to see the bee hotels in use — even spotted a Wood-carving Leafcutter Bee (Megachile ligniseca) basking on one!

Among today's nice finds was the leafhopper Rhopalopyx adumbrata.

Today's guided walks at Parc Melin Mynach, Gorseinon, explored the former Mountain Colliery site.

Highlights included Marbled White, Six-belted Clearwing, Brown-banded Carder Bee, prowling spider Cheiracanthium virescens, and picture-winged fly Herina palustris.

Great turnout despite the heat! 🥵

@walesnatureweek.bsky.social @sewbrec.org.uk @wtswwswanseagroup.bsky.social

Hidden Life of Colliery Spoil: Biodiversity Guided Walk Discover the surprising wildlife of Parc Melin Mynach on a guided walk led by entomologist Liam Olds. Explore how nature has reclaimed this former...

It's #WalesNatureWeek 🎉

Join @liamolds on a guided walk at Parc Melin Mynach, Gorseinon, and discover how nature has reclaimed this former colliery site.

Friday 11th July
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

For booking, visit www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

One day for sure 😊

🌟 Exciting Discovery Alert! 🌟

Back in January we teased some big news…and here it is!

🐌 Semilimax pyrenaicus (Pyrenean Semi-slug) has been recorded in Britain for the first time, found at a colliery spoil site in Cwmaman, S. Wales.

Read more: doi.org/10.61733/jco...

#SemiSlug #WildlifeDiscovery