Posts Tagged ‘mires’
Rhododendron Clearance at High House Waste
Continuing work in the Southern Mire, 9 volunteers joined workday leader Kate Wareham for our October workday at High House Waste. The day was still and sunny, with a blue sky that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a summer’s day. Following on from gorse clearance and the opening up of paths achieved during…
Read MoreCutting the Southern Mire
Conservation work on DPA owned land at High House Waste has now expanded into the Southern Mire, with our volunteers beginning the task of clearing gorse from the mire margins and cutting new access tracks for people and animals. 13 volunteers, including new faces from Cornwood, spent the day working with both hand tools and…
Read MoreDevonshire Association Botany Section visit Swincombe
10 members of the Devonshire Association Botany Section came on a site visit to our land in the Swincombe valley on the 20th of June. These included the BSBI (Botanical Society for the British Isles) county recorder and a member of DBRC (Devon Biological Records Centre) field survey team, as well as other top notch…
Read MoreRare Butterflies Confirmed at High House Waste
A population of rare Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary butterflies has been confirmed on DPA owned land at High House Waste. Our Ecological Consultant, Albert Knott, spent a day on the land last week surveying for the presence of these butterflies, and was delighted to record substantial activity. As well as seeing fritillary butterflies, he also…
Read MorePreserving Swincombe: Dartmoor’s Hidden Wild Treasure
Nestled where the River Strane meets the River Swincombe lies a remarkable 50-acre expanse of true Dartmoor moorland, owned and lovingly managed by the Dartmoor Preservation Association. This landscape, with its striking open vistas and wild charm, was once under threat of flooding to create a reservoir. The campaign to save it was championed by…
Read MoreEcological Land Management at High House Waste
A Magical Maze of Moor, Mire, Woodland and Streams Far from actually being a wasteland, the DPA owned land holding at High House Waste is a valuable area of mixed habitats, including: moorland, mire, woodland and streams. It’s home to special lichens, bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), carnivorous plants, such as Pale Butterwort, and Blue Ground…
Read MoreClubmosses of Dartmoor: Relicts of an Ancient Past
Dartmoor’s moorland and mires are home to a diverse range of upland-adapted plant species, many of which have survived for millennia in this dynamic ecosystem. Among this diverse flora are the ancient clubmosses—small but fascinating relicts of a prehistoric era when their ancestors dominated the planet’s forests. While clubmosses may resemble mosses, they are, in…
Read MoreSwincombe: Dartmoor’s Wild Heart
Dartmoor’s iconic landscape, with its expansive moors, granite tors, and biodiverse peatlands, is more than just visually stunning—it is an important upland ecosystem that supports an array of habitats that play an essential role in carbon sequestration. Among these unique areas is the Swincombe valley in the heart of Dartmoor, which has long been a…
Read More