8th - 9th May - Heddon Valley and Wistman's Wood, Devon

On the Saturday the 7th May we visited the Rosemoor RHS gardens which are stunning, we spent the morning walking all the gardens and had a bonus of a Wood White in the shady rock gardens.  Back at Brightley Barn a couple of hours by the river resulted in fly past Dipper and a pair of Grey Wagtail.

On the 8th we drove north in drizzle and mist, but this lifted as we arrived at the National Trust's Heddon Valley.  The walk would take us up the valley side to meet up with the Coastal path, along the path to the east and then back into Heddon Valley.

The first path of the walk was quite steep but on a narrow road which made it a little easier, coming out of the trees the road was lined with dead bracken, ideal environment for Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and I managed to find four individuals but not one stopped for the camera.  In addition to the fritillaries there was also Speckled Wood and Orange Tip, but in the warm sun they were charged up and would not stop.  In the woods were singing Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff and I thought I heard a brief snatch of Pied Flycatcher.  This gives you some idea of the habitat and steepness of the path.

The path then left the road and followed the contour of the valley, finally coming out into the open with views down to the car park from where we had started.

A pair of Stonechat were a little agitated as we came close to what was almost certainly a nest site.

Several butterflies were on the path as we walked, the first Small Heath of the year, avery poor record shot.

But best of a were the Wall Browns, again they were very difficult to pin down, when they were disturbed they were gone, never to be seen again.  This individual did sit still long enough for one shot so I do have a record.

As the path wound its way around the side of the hill we were able to the Heddon's Mouth where the valley meets the sea.

Looking to the west we reached the junction with the South West Coastal Path, heading west it would reach Combe Martin, sign posted, six miles away.

We turned right and found some rocks to sit and admire the view while we got some energy back.

In the guide from the National Trust it says to look out for Dolphins and Porpoises along with sea birds from the coastal path.  Needless to say there was very little to see.  Of the sea birds Herring Gulls were the most numerous with a few Guillemots distantly passing by.  

We stopped for lunch and enjoyed some more spectacular views.  After lunch we continued on the path that turned inland following the side of the valley.  Finally it started to wind back down the side of the valley.  Unfortunately there hasd been a slip in this area and the path was covered in loose scree which made it difficult going, but not as difficult for those that were coming up hill.  At this point I secretly thanked my decision to not follow the walk in the opposite direction.

A Willow Warbler sang from the top of one of the Oak trees at eye level as we descended.

The view looking down the valley side towards the valley bottom.

On reaching the valley bottom we decided to walk down to the mouth of the stream, we go so far but decided to stop.  A rest by the stream was another chance to try some slow speed shots of the water.

Here a black and white photograph.

A Grey Wagtail along the stream.

We turned around and headed back up the slight incline and to the car for a reward of some very special ice cream.

Back at the Barn we had some more time by the river and this time was rewarded wit the Kingfisher carrying a fish up stream, it came back a little later but that was the only sighting.  We also saw Dipper and Grey Wagtail.

I was also taken by this plant that was lit by the sun for a very short time.

The following day, the 9th was again sunny although with some very high clouds.  This time we headed west and then south into the heart of Dartmoor.  We parked the car at the Two Bridges car park where Swallows were perched on the overhead wires, the first chance to photograph them this year.

We were here to visit Wistman's Wood National Nature Reserve, one of three high altitude Oak woods to be found on Dartmoor.  The wood is surrounded by granite tors and moorland and the reserve is important for the mosses and lichens found on the site’s trees and granite boulders.  The wood lies at an altitude of 380–410 metres in the valley of the West Dart River

From the car park a well marked path leads through a farm yard and then out onto the open moor.  Ahead you could see scatterings of Tors on the horizon and the wood lying on the south side of the valley.

A Wheatear, surprisingly my first of the year, appeared along the path sitting on one of the rocks in the grass.

A view looking back down the path to the car park.

Cuckoos called from the valley sides and one came very close, surprising me when it appeared on a fence close by.  But it didn't stay and flew off being chased by two Meadow Pipits.  We watched as it flew across the valley and was joined by two other birds, the Meadow Pipits not sure who to mob.  Eventually they settle in their own trees dotted alongside the valley.

A head of us was a school / college party so we slowed our approach and on reaching the wood sat on the outside, waiting for them to make their way through.  As we sat a Willow Warbler sang rom the top of one of the close Oaks.

There have been concerns that during Lockdown and the increased number of visitors to places such as these around the country the high number of visitors has damaged the sensitive nature of the wood, it was also very dry following the spell of fry weather we have had which also made it susceptible to further damage.  Rather than go into the wood we explored the fringes and looked in to the wood.

The wood is split into three main blocks (North, Middle, and South Groves or Woods), which in total cover about 8.6 acres.  These occupy the sheltered, south-west facing slope of the valley, where a bank of large granite boulders ("clatter") is exposed, and pockets of acidic, free-draining, brown earth soils have accumulated. Additional copses of scrub extend beyond the main body of the wood, suggesting that it originally extended over the entirety of the clatter deposits on the hillside. In the present day, the clatter outside of the main wood is covered in bracken, bilberry, and occasional gorse. The oldest trees are about 400 years old, with the woodland area doubling in size in the last 100 years

Lichen hang in the branches like Spanish Moss in the southern states of the USA.

"It is hardly possible to conceive anything of the sort so grotesque as this wood appears,” the local Reverend Swete is quoted as saying about Wistman’s Wood in 1797.

Looking into the twisted and gnarled branches of the stunted oak trees entwined with each other, grotesque isn’t really a word I’d use to describe this place. It is odd-looking, but it is at the same time beautiful.

The trees within the wood are mainly pedunculate oak, with occasional rowan, and a very few holly, hawthorn, hazel, and eared-willow.  The oaks are distinguished by their dwarf habit, and rarely reach more than 4.5 metres in overall vertical height. The trees also developed highly contorted forms with procumbent trunks, and their main branches tend to lie on or between the rocks on the forest floor. 

On the ground, boulders are usually covered by lichens and mossy patches.  and, where soil has accumulated, patches of acid grassland grow with heath bedstraw, tormentil and sorrel.  The wood supports approximately 120 species of lichen.  

Tree branches are characteristically festooned with a variety of epiphytic mosses and lichens and, sometimes, by grazing-sensitive species such as bilberry and polypody.  The horizontal habit of the trunks and limbs allows organic debris and humus to accumulate on them, favouring extensive growth of epiphytic vascular plants. These occur in much greater variety than in other British woodlands; in addition to polypody, which is the most common recorded epiphyte, and bilberry, these include many of the same species found on the forest floor

Dotted around the wood are various signs of of over 100 settlements from the Bronze Age.

Walking back there were more calling Cuckoo and Stonechats and several very loud Wrens, this one appearing on top of the gorse to deliver its song.

Making our way back to the car we stopped by the side of a stream to have a very pleasant lunch, and the again at the Haytor car park where we had a couple of lovely "99s"