Devon Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve at Hawkswood. June 5^th 2008

Raining again: should we go on the walk or should we not? We went, and what a lovely few hours we spent in the woods.

Marjorie Waters led the walk (she just knows so much stuff, that girl) and gave us a crib sheet of what we might see and hear. “This is where I heard a Willow Warbler yesterday” she said, and right on cue we heard one calling before we had even gone into the reserve. Lots of pretty things were growing in the hedgerows including the fairly rare Black Spleenwort. A real oddity though, was the spliced cherry and oak, half the tree cherry and half oak, seemingly growing as one.

In the Reserve itself we found a beautiful patch of Heath Spotted Orchid, identified by its wavy unlobed lower lip with a short central tooth when compared to that of the Common Spotted Orchid. It’s always pleasing to come across something I’ve never seen before and on this occasion it was a Leaf Roll Weevil on a Hazel Tree. The insect can cut through the leaf, leaving the merest thread of the mid vein. It then wraps the partially severed leaf around itself and hangs down from the tree looking like nothing so much as a beautifully rolled cigarillo.

We then went into Compartment Two, below the lane, where Bog Myrtle grows in abundance. This again is fairly rare. Among other things it was used by the ancient Scots to rub on themselves to help ward off midges.

A walk down to the brook gave us, among other things, plenty of Wood Sanicle and a smattering of Himalayan Balsam. This we quickly pulled up. Turning right to walk up an old hedge boundary we passed more boggy areas and joy of joys, we saw the Royal Fern. This fern bears its spores on separate specialised fronds that are brown and almost flower like, rather than on the backs of the normal pinnules of the green fronds.

A lovely morning, with plenty to see in a little jewel of a Nature Reserve.

Photos of Group, Spotted Orchid & Leaf Roll Weevil by Phil Parr.

______________________

Hawkswood, Devon Wildlife Trust’s Nature Reserve

 
Many of you will know Hawkswood, the DWT reserve near Offwell, and some may also have been involved in its management and monitoring. It was sold to the Trust by Ralph Coxhead in 1974. He also bequeathed a substantial sum for maintenance and enhancement.

Mr. Coxhead bought the woodland before the Second World War, intending to build a property and live there. By 1947, new regulations meant that he could only build a temporary shelter. He lived there quietly for many years, creating a butterfly garden and introducing new plant species, Though a solitary man, he cycled to Honiton most days for provisions. By the way, that ‘temporary shelter’ is still there!

Records of flora and fauna have been kept since the 1970s and, since 1996, have been monitored by volunteers from the local group of DWT. Hawkswood includes: dry heath and acid grassland, Molinia mire, dry oak-birch woodland, and wet birch-Molinia woodland. In 2002, a survey of bat activity found 9 species foraging. Annual fungal forays are carried out.

Kathryn Baxendale (01297 553463) collates records and organises visits. Help with monitoring is always welcome.

Grid ref: SY202973. Park by the road and walk along the track to the Reserve. The gate on the left leads to the grassland by the hut. From the gate on the right of the track, follow the marker posts through the woodland areas. Mr. Coxhead loved his woodland. Do visit this lovely place!