Country diary: Nature shows its mettle at the old steelworks | Amanda Thomson

Ravenscraig, North Lanarkshire: A place once of coke ovens and cooling towers is now enlivened with orchids and stonecrop, and swards of grassesI'm walking through Ravenscraig, once the site of the largest steelworks in Europe, which was closed and demolished more than 30 years ago. While there has been some redevelopment on its fringes, the bulk of the site has been left. The skylarks that soar upwards to become nothing but song will look down on the circles where once were cooling towers and gas towers, the rectangular templates of the buildings, strip mills and coke ovens, and roads leading to them, edges now softened and fringed with birch and willow.From a distance, the oxeye daisies intermingling with the lush grasses look like a smattering of snow; close up, thick swards of grass are peppered with St John's wort, yellow rattle, tufted and yellow vetch, and red clover - little pings of colour amid the subtle pinks, purples and greens of the grasses. Continue reading...