Ash is produced when the coal is burnt and has proved to be something for the salvation for many plants and animals  the ash is so fine that it has to be turned into a slurry and put into the  to settle out  these can be up to eight years during which time it becomes none the less but an artificial mud flat quickly colonized by weeds, pioneers crucial to the complex way of life in our natural world  But for bird-watchers it is the bird that attracted to these artificial mud flats that are the most exciting development within the boundaries of these power station nature reserves.