“Well loved he garleek, oynons, and eek lekes, And for to drynken strong wyn, reed as blood”. Chaucer – Canterbury Tales The humble onion, at one time every moorland garden grew some sort or another, spring onions, shallots or cooking onions. As I child the kitchen garden was full of …

“From little acorns mighty oaks grow”, or as is the case on Dartmoor, “From little acorns oaks of all sizes grow”, from the dwarf oaks of Wistman’s Wood to the ancient ‘Royal Oak of Meavy‘. Normally one could say that many of the native trees do not occur on the …

‘Better than many more melodious singers, I love the monotonous music of the goatsucker. He has but two notes, and after sustaining the higher for thirty seconds or more, drops half a tone upon the lower and so concludes his burst of song. He loves the twilight, for his great …

“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 …