Sunday 30 August 2015

Rewilding of Old Ironstone Workings

Yesterday I visited Scunthorpe Steelworks to take some Industrial Landscape pictures for my photography degree.  A s well as industry itself, I am also interested in the rewilding of old industrial sites.  How quickly does nature reclaim her own.  We parked at Santon, just north of Broughton, where we were able to walk along footpaths through the old opencast ironstone quarries next to the steelworks.  It is fascinating to see how all of this area has reverted to scrub and woodland and is now a haven for wildlife.  Although it is approaching the end of the butterfly season now, we found good numbers of second brood speckled woods in excellent condition.  Fungi are now beginning to grow and pleated inkcaps were in evidence.  We also enjoyed the fascinating robin's pincushion growing on the wild dog roses  These are galls or abnormal growths produced as a reaction to parasitic attack.  The culprit in this case is a gall wasp that lays its eggs either in the leaf or the stem of the rose.  Robin's pincushion is a spectacular gall and can be either bright green or brilliant scarlet.  Ours was scarlet and made a very pleasing photograph.

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