“Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies ; And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower, Guard it I pray thee, with a lurking adder...”. William Shakespeare “You touch the hoky poky and you turn around”, ow that bloody hurts, meet the Dartmoor Urtica dioica, because hoky poky, along with …

“Through grass, through amber’d cornfields, our slow Stream– Fringed with its flags and reeds and rushes tall, And Meadowsweet, the chosen of them all By wandering children, yellow as the cream Of those great cows–winds on as in a dream By mill and footbridge, hamlet old and small (Red roofs, …

Upon this herbless rock a small grey Lichen Did fix her home She came with meek intent, to bless her stern and sterile place of rest; And presently her gentle sisters followed, Some vestal white, and some in robes of brown, And some in yellow vestures, labouring all At the …

For many years Kyloe the wolf lived a solitary life high amongst the remote tors of Dartmoor. His life was simple and safe, food was plenty and at the first sign of humans he would simply hide amongst the granite outcrops, basically nobody knew of his existence. Sometimes on clear …

On Dartmoor the kestrel is affectionately known as either the ‘Windhover’ or the ‘Wind-Fanner’ which compared with its Latin name of Falco tinnunculus is a great improvement. These days any sightings of the bird will be confined mainly to the moorland edges or near woodlands and plantations. Sadly, the plight …

“Sister, sister, what dost thou twine ? I am weaving a wreath of the wild Woodbine ; I have streaked it without like the sunset hue, And silvered it white with the morning dew : And there is not a perfume which on the breeze blows From the lips of …

Today of you think of holly the chances are that Christmas will come to mind, but it hasn’t always been like that as at one time holly meant more than decorations. If you take Dartmoor as a whole, the holly bush is generally found on the lower fringes of the …

The woodcock now upon the wing Is flitting past to upland spring; The fern owl wheels above the brake, The heron screams from yonder lake; The Dart is moaning down the dell, Like music from a muffled bell. Edward William Lewis Davies – 1863 Quite often you can be strolling …

“I love your hills, and I love your dales, And I love your flocks a-bleating; But O, on the heather to lie together, With both our hearts a-beating!” Where be ye going, ye Devon maid – John Keats If gorse is known as ‘Dartmoor Custard’ then the heathers must be …

From various pollen analysis studies it is estimated that ‘Slip Shell’ or Hazel has been growing on Dartmoor since around 7500BC and would have been found over most parts of the moor. Climate change and deforestation has long since altered that state of affairs and today it is commonly found …