The hawthorn is probably one of the most common trees of Dartmoor and can be seen resplendent in the hedges of the lowlands as well as standing in solitude high on the tors. Nothing can compare with walking down a Dartmoor lane in April with the heady scent of the …

Today, one would be extremely lucky to see a hare on Dartmoor, in 15 years I have seen two and these have been on the lower fringes of the moor. Devon as a whole is regarded as having a wide but local population of hares but Dartmoor numbers are considered …

Occasionally you will be walking among the heather on some lonely hillside when suddenly the ground explodes and once your heart has stopped pounding you will see a grouse scudding across the moorside. Alternatively the silence of the heather moor will be broken by a guttural call that seems to …

Somewhere, everyday you can see the ‘Dartmoor Custard’, it could be on the commons, up a small valley or by a wood; “For second course, last night, a custard came To th’board, so hot, as none co’d touch the same; Furze, three or four times with his cheeks did blow …

When out traipsing the moor there is nothing more evocative than to spot a fox loping across the heather or slinking amongst the clitters. On many occasions I have watched the wily animal on Dartmoor and have come to learn how at home it is on the moors. A couple …

“I greet, as severing mists its spire reveal, The ringing anvil and the whirling wheel; Here, where they urge their labours, there relax, The panting girls that ply the fervent flax.“ Linum usitatissimum or Flax to use its common names is one of the oldest fibre crops known to man, …

This December (2010) we probably have experienced one of the coldest spells for many years and during such times many of our thoughts are turned towards the local wildlife. In an attempt to ease the plight of the garden birds I have intensified the amount of feed that is put …

Next time you walk amongst the purple heathers of Dartmoor with the gentle breeze delicately wafting amongst the gorse you may even find that the aroma is even headier than ever. For this you can thank good old Tony Blair and his bunch of clowns for once again they have …

Take a look at any hedgerow and this year in particular (2006) they are loaded with berries and no more so than the elder berry. The roots of the elder tree descends deep into the depths of time. Since the Christian era the tree has been regarded as something of …

I can honestly say that despite tramping over Dartmoor for a few decades I have never seen sight nor sound of the elusive Dunlin. The Dunlin or Calidris alpina if one wants to be official is a  small wading bird that tends to breed in upland bogs and then migrate …