NATURALIST
Tavistock Woodlands On the Devon bank of the Tamar, south from Horsebridge to the parish boundary of Bere Ferrers and upriver on the Tavy as far as Shillamill, on the Crowndale road, the landscape is dominated by the trees of the Tavistock Woodland Estate. It is part of the Tamar Valley AONB and includes many artefacts that belong to our industrial past, a key part of the World Heritage Site. Visitor attractions at the Tamar Trails Centre and Morwellham Quay are surrounded by the estate, a commercial woodland owned by the Earl of Bradford. I first explored the woodlands exactly 50 years ago when I began my career teaching science locally. It was truly private in those days, but access was allowed to interested individuals - I still have my typewritten permit! A ground-breaking system of arboriculture had been developed after the Second World War, the Bradford-Hutt plan, which avoided clear-felling whole hillsides, replacing it with selective use of individual tress in rotation, and allowing native hardwood trees to become established. Loss of the soil and the life within when forests are cleared is now a major concern worldwide. Mixed woodlands of this kind, rather than the dark serried ranks of many commercial conifer plantations provide a wider variety of habitats for wildlife and a far more interesting environment for human visitors too. These are the places where our larger mammals hide away during daylight hours, so early mornings and evenings are when they are most often sighted. Roe and fallow deer are commonly seen while red deer pass through while travelling between resident herds in other parts of Devon and Cornwall. The woodland badgers were commonly seen until recently, crossing roads at night-time or sadly ending up as roadkill victims. I assume the government’s culling programme has probably been responsible for the current absence of these sightings. Smaller mammals and birds are well catered for, especially where a dense undergrowth has been allowed to develop.
Rodents remain hidden from view leaving evidence of their presence in the form of discarded nut shells and fir cones. In early spring birds are often located by their song; with a pair of binoculars handy, it soon becomes possible to identify the songster and with practice most of the tits, finches and especially the nuthatch can be recognised by sound alone. The rare and elusive nightjar can also be heard, or if you are really lucky, seen in the woods on summer evenings. But it is the bats that are one of the star turns of the Tamar Valley with over a dozen species having been identified. Most are nocturnal, emerging in the evening from their roosts amongst the old mine-workings. They are often seen skimming over the surface of the river and around the trees, lining the banks, navigating their way using ultrasound. Each species emits a unique call, catching the reflected echoes in their over-sized ears to ‘picture’ the locality. At the heart of the woodland around the post-industrial wastes of the nineteenth century Devon Great Consols Mine workings, plants still struggle to colonise the dry, sandy residues over a century later. These still carry traces of copper, tin and poisonous arsenic extracted from the rocks below. However, on the fringes of this area a heath-like flora has developed and where conifer needles carpet the ground red wood-ant colonies, with a level of sophistication which matches that of the hive-bee, construct extensive ant-hills in which to raise their brood. At the time of writing, there is some concern for the future of the estate with both the ownership and management of the woodlands under discussion. Our hope should be that its value in terms of landscape, protected habitats and species, as well as its history and public accessibility should be taken into consideration for all who live and work in the area. Pete Mayston
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