The tump (aka the mound) was mowed by the Parks Department last week, but unfortunately the cuttings were not collected. As you can see from Rose Revera’s Welsh Wildlife Trust analysis below, the tump is an important ecosystem that needs management.

Rose has arranged for a team of WWT volunteers with appropriate tools to help clear the cuttings on Tuesday 29 September. We will start at 9.30am and finish when we are done, but certainly by 2pm.

If ever there was a case of many hands making light work this is it! Come along at any time during that window to help conserve an important new aspect to White Rock. Bring a rake if you have one for making piles of the stuff taken off the hill with the big rakes. Any questions to info@friendsofwhiterock.org.uk.

“The spoil heap tump at White Rock has this year been identified as a valuable wildflower meadow by ecologists from the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. Over the summer months, the tump is covered in wildflowers including oxeye daisies, bee orchids and kidney vetch, which is the food plant for the fast declining small blue butterfly. Visit on a warm summer day and the meadow covering the spoil heap is alive with buzzing bees and beautiful butterflies.

“In the centre of Swansea, this gem is a haven for wildlife that should be preserved. The best way to manage meadows like this is to cut them as if they were going for hay, in late August or early September. If the cut material is left on the soil, it will rot down and enrich the nutrients. When soil is enriched, grasses, brambles and nettles find it easier to grow and out-compete the wildflowers, leading to a much reduced number of wildflowers.

“Therefore, it is essential that the cuttings are removed to help the meadow look as beautiful next year. The tump has been mowed in the last few weeks but now we need your help to rake off the cuttings and help the wildflowers to grow next year.”

Rose Revera, Welsh Wildlife Trust, 15 September.