Corringdon Ball

A walk from Moorhaven to Corringdon Ball gate to Owley and back on 11th May. The path south from Ball Gate has fantastic displays of spring flowers and fabulous views.

Dartmoor

On the way to Eastern Whitebarrow, there were beautiful patches of wood sorrel on the steep slopes of Middle Brook ‘British soldiers’ on Ugborough beacon Broad-leaved pondweed sheltered masses of tadpoles at Glasscombe corner

Easter in lockdown

The sun shone and brought out the first flowers of marsh violets, tormentil, lady’s smock and wood speedwell.  There were wildlife residents and visitors in the garden pond. At least five palmate newts, a frog, and a beautiful grass snake. A violet oil beetle munching celandines on the way to Leigh Lane from Moorhaven: A walk to Piles…

Winter/Spring

It was definitely still winter on Three Barrows and Wacka Tor today, but in Didworthy it was spring. Water everywhere, but flowers coming up despite the snow, hail, sleet and high winds we had yesterday. It was good to see a few sunshine-yellow dandelions out as they are an important early source of nectar for…

Lukesland

Over the moor from Moorhaven to Lukesland, a large but rather bedraggled emperor moth and an oil beetle on the drovers’ path.  

West Dartmoor

A lovely walk along Drake’s Leat and up Leeden Tor, followed by a brief stop south of Yelverton to look at Heath Spotted Orchids. There were mountain ferns all along the leat, otherwise known as lemon-scented ferns for their defining attribute. Ingra Tor looks like a normal tor from the southern approach but suddenly you…

More spring, more snow

A splash of purple scented violets under the viaduct, and the first few white specimens in the verge on Bittaford road this week. It was just light enough to take photos while walking home from the station. Dandelions were looking glorious in the sunshine; they are an important source of food for insects early in…

Winter again

A month ago at White Oxen there were drifts of primroses and snowdrops, a few white sweet violets, self-heal and dandelions. A nuthatch was noisily proclaiming its territory. Stinking hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) is native in parts of Britain (in a band from Kent to North Wales, according to Harrap’s Wild Flowers) and nationally scarce. This specimen,…

Snow and spring

  There was snow in Sheffield last weekend but back in Devon it feels like spring, with celandines, saxifrage, ivy-leaved speedwell and new growth of English stonecrop in the walls.   Frogs have been busy in the pools by Ludbrook and there are bright green new leaves of lesser spearwort under the flowing water of the brook.

Hillson’s House

Lovely splashy walk from Ivybridge to Stalldown Barrow this morning, but not much of a view through thick drizzle.

Ferns

Equipped with James Merryweather’s excellent Fern Guide, I’m trying to identify the ferns that grow prolifically all around here. Starting with the easy ones, there is hart’s tongue in every hedge, and hard fern. Hard fern is plentiful in the hedges but also makes a fringe to the banks of Ludbrook. Polypodies are also very common, even…

December flowers

Meadowsweet and wild angelica, the epitome of summer, are flowering along Wrangaton Road, with the meadowsweet just coming into bud. Still flowering after the summer are red campion, white deadnettle, hogweed and wood sage. Winter heliotrope, the first primroses, lesser periwinkle and new shoots of dog’s mercury are more seasonal. Holly on the moor by Ludbrook