From Abandonment to Regeneration – Keggal Quarry

From Abandonment to Regeneration – Keggal Quarry

Nothing is quite as restorative for the mind as to see the restoration of wild spaces from the destructive exploits of humanity. For me, locally, there is one such place that I visit every so often because it never fails to have something to study, observe and befriend.

On the Keggal Road on the eastern side of Camloch is an abandoned quarry. Once it excavated the side of Camloch Mountain for the rock ore, now it rests. Geologically speaking, it illustrates impressive geologic processes and one can see rocks as old as 400 million years on the scarred rock face. Even much younger rocks at 60 million years old are to be seen here. After abandonment, human disturbance on this level ceased. This was not unnoticed by wildlife and soon mosses, grasses, trees and all of the associated animals soon arrived to seek resources and make a home.

Quarries across the country which have fallen into abandonment, have risen to the forefront of biodiversity hotspots. Keggal quarry is most alive in the Summer and I have been so lucky to observe the great variety of wildlife here. There is something for everyone here: botanists, entomologists, bryologists, geologists and historians.

There is a small section of wet acidic grassland in the quarry which provides habitat for spotted orchids, marsh thistle, milkwort, fairy flax and copious amount of moss. Last July, I spotted a whole range of invertebrates. Dark-green fritillary butterfly (header photo) fed on marsh thistle, Volucella bombylans a bee-mimic hoverfly basked on rock scree, male white-tailed bumblebees foraged on the lemon-yellow mountain sage, and bee-grabbers kept an eye out for bees to parasitise.

Even in Winter there are mosses, liverworts and ferns to admire. Here we find oceanic species like Scapania gracilis and Dicranum majus nested into the crevices of the brindled and acidic granodiorite of the old Newry Igneous complex.

I find there to be a deep and poignant irony here. That a quarry that fell into disuse from a human perspective, is now full of life. We have a negative association with abandonment, but often, it is the only way life can survive in a world where wild spaces are becoming rarer. We shouldn’t have to go to abandoned places to find these creatures, but for now, I am glad it is being left to nature’s own restorative powers.

Image: Orchid, Keggal Quarry, Camloch