Christmas Woodland Fairy-Trail

From a lichen’s perspective the Bovey Valley in East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve is an ideal home. In fact, Hisley Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest recognised for its assemblages of lichen, but having legal protection is only part of the story. To sustain these precious and rare species, more information is needed about the local lichen present in the woods. This is where the Lichen Lovers come in-to champion this miniature world. The Lichen Lovers are a group of enthusiastic and committed Devon naturalists who, between them, have a vast knowledge of hundreds of species of lichen and associated woodland wildlife. Their aim is to map their findings for Natural England and the Woodland Trust to develop habitat management plans.

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The Moor than meets the eye Barbastelle Bats project in the Bovey Valley Woods (part of East Dartmmor NNR) is still helping scientists understand more about bats to help with future conservation. Last year researchers from Bristol University led a bat radio tracking project to look at these rare creatures. This summer Dr. Orly Razgour, a research fellow from the University of Southampton has started to survey these East Dartmoor bats as part of her European-wide genetic research project on bat responses to global climate change. So far, Dr. Razgour has gathered information on barbastelles from Morocco to Sweden and, for a few nights in August, she brought her survey equipment to the Bovey Valley Woods. You can read the whole story on our blog eastdartmoorwoods.org

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Young naturalists got a chance to explore one of Dartmoor's best woodlands at the weekend as part of our Spring Woodland Festival. The Festival was organised so that families could meet wildlife experts, go on guided walks or take part in hands on activities. There were also plenty of other things to enjoy from storytelling and cool jazz to a fabulous barbeque run by the local scouts. Over 200 came along to learn more about Dartmoor's woodland wildlife despite there being plenty of alternative distractions such as the Royal Wedding and it being a perfect beach day!For those wishing to get away from it all it was the perfect retreat. As visitors walked from their cars they dropped down into the fresh leaved woods, following flags painted by local schoolchildren, until they emerged from the forest into a secret kingdom full of natures secrets to be discovered.The event was all about raising everyone's awareness of Dartmoor's wildlife and was supported by local and national wildlife organisations including RSPB, Woodland Trust, Natural England, Devon Reptile and Amphibian Group, Devon Wildlife Trust, National Trust and Butterfly Conservation.The smooth running of the event was down to the hard work of a team of staff and volunteers from NE, WT and MTMTE and all the other wildlife organisations, without whom this event could not take place. So a huge thank you to all of them for working so tirelessly throughout the day

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