Leblanc Process - Biodiversity

Biodiversity

Ironically there is a strong case for arguing that Leblanc process waste is the most endangered habitat in the UK, since the waste weathers down to calcium carbonate and produces a haven for plants that thrive in lime-rich soils, known as calcicoles. Only four such sites have survived the new millennium; three are protected as local nature reserves of which the largest, at Nob End near Bolton, is an SSSI and Local Nature Reserve - largely for its sparse orchid-calcicole flora, most unusual in an area with acid soils. This alkaline island contains within it an acid island, where acid boiler slag was deposited, which now shows up as a zone dominated by heather, Calluna vulgaris.