An Orme-mighty habitat

24th November 2024. The perils of climbing up hills and stepping back in time…

I feel I have now reached an age in life where reflecting on events in my past can confidently involve sentences that begin with the words: When I was a child…, When I was younger…, and In my youth… A whisper away from ‘the-big-five-oh’ (the ‘oh’ is intentionally spelt), I am – according to my niece’s description of a similarly aged colleague – old. And I can sense it in my bones. When I was younger, walking up the Great Orme in North Wales was strenuous but did not involve me swearing my way up the incline nor intermittently leaning on a wall, wondering why my lungs weren’t working properly. As was the case a few Fridays ago, when I decided to make the most of a break in the weather and the gift of some time off.

The Great Orme is a limestone headland that formed 300-350 million years ago and summits at 207m – which makes it taller/longer/bigger than two Big Bens, four Olympic swimming pools or eight Dreadnoughtous dinosaurs. And makes me feel better about my appalling level of fitness.

Half a million people visit the Orme every year and are a testament to its attraction and attractions – variably lured by the cable car or skiing, the alpine golf or gardens, the historic tramway or the copper mines.

The Great Orme Tramway was built in 1901 and opened to the public in 1902. It was designed to transport people and goods but sometimes carried coffins and mourners to the burial ground at St Tudno’s Church. Rigorous safety measures were put in place in 1934, following a carriage derailment and the death of two people, and electric engines replaced steam-powered ones in 1957. Since then, management of the tramway has changed hands several times, and its heritage preserved by lottery and European Union funding.

The mines were opened to the public in 1991, four years after the site had originally been ear-marked for development as a carpark... Thank goodness for the surveyors who shinnied down a mining shaft and discovered not only dozens of passenger tunnels but the remains of thousands of tools dating back thousands of years. These showed that the mines were in operation 2000 years before the Romans and thus constituted ‘the largest Bronze Age workings in Western Europe’.

I have visited the Great Orme many times throughout my life and will always have a fondness for it, not least for the memories it brings me of my Welsh grandmother. I loved it as a child on a family holiday and I love it now for its botanical beauty and diversity. This richness is officially recognised in its habitats and dual status as a Special Area of Conservation and SSSI. The limestone grassland, sea cliffs, heathland and woodland regions provide homes for 431 species of plants (including the rare or unusual), support all manner of birdlife, and serve at least 24 species of butterfly.

The best time to appreciate this fantastic array of life is probably in the first half of the year, when plants like the Dark Red Helleborine and Spiked Speedwell are in flower, but I still managed to find splashes of colour here and there, sheltering amongst the rocks. I also found a few plants in late flower, down on the beach at West Shore, which was very gratifying and kept my camera busy.

I forgot all about my aches and pains and advancing years, and took pleasure in the prettiness of petals and the loveliness of leaves. Have a wonderful week and see you next Sunday.

Seaside Daisy: has American ancestry and was introduced to our shores in the 1800s. It is now found on beaches, shingles, saltmarshes, sand dunes and sea cliffs, as well as in people’s gardens, meadows and rocky ground. My neighbour had some trailing over his garden wall in the summer, but the one in the photograph was hiding in the dunes on West Shore, gently buffeted by a late afternoon and November wind. It was a charming discovery, immediately catching my eye with its charming blue-purple petals and spoon-shaped downy leaves. Seaside Daisy is well-suited to such habitats and hardy enough to cope with the UK’s maritime weather. This is just as well, since it contributes to the ecology of the surrounding area by being a food source for bees and butterflies, a home for insects and spiders, and a stabiliser for soils – on account of its deep roots. For us mere mortals, Seaside Daisy has traditionally been used by North American tribes to treat skin problems, digestive issues and respiratory conditions, and is symbolically associated with purity and innocence.

Western Gorse: is a member of the pea family like Gorse but differs in terms of its smaller bracts and seed pods, its colour (yellow rather than gold), and its flowering time (summer to autumn). Whilst this extended period makes Western Gorse a vital food source for bees when other flowers are scarce or in fruit, its dense thickets are also useful for nesting birds like the yellowhammers and warblers and, via the rabbit holes beneath, the rare coastal shelduck. The bright and beautiful yellow petals are synonymous with sun and fire, and fire is important because it facilitates germination – allowing the seeds to burst from their pods and to travel up to 10 metres away. Fire and gorse have cultural significance too – burning gorse to smoke out those attempting to practise witchcraft or to commemorate its sacredness, in the festival of Beltane. Beltane means ‘bright fire’ and was an Iron Age celebration of the start of summer and the return of fertile land – safeguarding the health of cattle who were driven between the bonfires before being put out to graze.

References

Beltane Fire Society (not dated, but I assume 2024) About Beltane Fire Festival. https://beltane.org/about-beltane/

Cambrian Wildwood (not dated, but I assume 2024) Western Gorse. https://www.cambrianwildwood.org/species/western-gorse/

Keith Jones (2024) English Wild Flowers. A Seasonal Guide. Seaside Daisy. http://www.seasonalwildflowers.com/seaside-daisy.html

Rachel Hamilton, Chris Gibson and Robert Still (2024) British and Irish Wildflowers and Plants. A Pocket Guide. Princetown University Press; Oxford

Rachel Taylor (2024) 10 Things that are about 200 Meters (m) Long or Tall. https://www.mydimensionworld.com/things-that-are-about-200-meters-long/

The Great Orme Tramway (not dated, but I assume 2024) History. The Tramway’s Timeline. https://greatormetramway.co.uk/en/history

Tom Gravett, Helen Jowett, Rhona Davies and Barbara Owsianka (not dated, but I assume 2024) Discovering the Great Orme. https://www.conwy.gov.uk/en/Resident/Leisure-sport-and-health/Coast-and-Countryside/Assets/documents/Discover-the-Great-Orme.pdf

Visit Wales (2024) Great Orme Mines. https://www.visitwales.com/attraction/historic-site/great-orme-mines-527987.

Wikipedia (2024) Great Orme. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Orme#:~:text=Copper%20mines,-The%20entrance%20to&text=The%20mine%20was%20most%20productive,compete%20with%20the%20Great%20Orme.

Wild Flower Web (2024) Seaside Daisy. http://www.wildflowerweb.co.uk/plant/149/seaside-daisy