Minera Quarry (c) Simon Mills
We need your help! Minera Quarry is a special place, but it’s not yet a Wildlife Trust nature reserve – we need your help to help us protect it for the future.
At the moment, Minera Quarry is barely accessible to the public and unmanaged for people and wildlife. Without your help, it will stay like this – and many of the special grassland flowers will be engulfed by thick scrub and lost forever.
More about Minera …
Minera Quarry is a disused quarry of c.40ha near Minera, Coedpoeth, Gwynfryn and Wrexham. The site has been associated with the extraction of limestone for over 200 years, with operations finally ceasing in 1994. Parts of the quarry have regenerated naturally and now host many rare and threatened habitats and species, as well as industrial heritage (incorporating banks of disused lime kilns and the Hoffmann Kiln complex: both Scheduled Ancient Monuments) and an impressive system of natural limestone caves.
The quarry’s wildlife today, covered by several statutory designations, includes at least three species of bat (lesser horsehoe, brown long-eared, Natterer’s) and cliff-dwelling birds such as peregrine falcon and raven. Perhaps most important of all, however, is its fabulous plant community, featuring many species specialising in limestone grassland (pyramidal, fragrant and frog orchids, round-leaved wintergreen, autumn gentian, moonwort … the list goes on!). It is this grassland that is most threatened by lack of management: without our intervention, there is little doubt that the already-present problem of scrub encroachment will engulf much of this special habitat if not soon addressed.
NWWT are at an advanced stage of negotiations with Tarmac, Minera Quarry’s current owners, to transfer the land to the Wildlife Trust. Over the last six years, we have worked with the local Minera Quarry Trust (MQT) to try and ensure that the site can be developed into an important community facility. We want to safeguard the site for the future in partnership with local people, transforming it into a true community asset, with access routes and trails around key features; an ongoing series of public events; and of course a programme of essential conservation work including scrub clearance and the reintroduction of long-absent controlled grazing. It is only through the generosity of our members, long-term supporters and committed volunteers that we are able even to consider acquiring new nature reserves – thank you for all you do to help.