Scotland

Watsonhead Surface Mine

The Watsonhead opencast site covers approximately 86.6ha to the south east of Morningside, near Newmains in North Lanarkshire. The site commenced in 2000 and approximately 300,000 tonnes of coal was recovered from the site which supplied Longannet Power station at Kirkcaldy. The site was predominantly restored during September 2006 apart from a small area of the site to the South which was restored in 2003.

The restoration scheme has combined both agricultural land and woodland to improve the woodland habitat along the Auchter Water. There is some ten thousand trees to be planted across the site during 2007 and over one thousand meters of hedging. The former water treatment lagoons have been restored into a series of ponds as well as a small lake approximately 2 ha which feeds into the Auchter Water. Greylag Geese and Herons can commonly be seen on the wetland areas.

The site has been cultivated and seeded which was completed in 2008, approximately half the site has been treated with bio solids to improve the quality of the soils for agricultural purposes. The fencing across the site has now been completed and woodland and hedgerow planting has also taken place.  The site has now been sold.