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Reserves - Dunsford
Key Information
Entrance Grid reference
SX 805 883 and SX 784 893
Location
E Dartmoor nr Dunsford Village
Size
Hectares 56, acres 140
Main Type of Habitat
Wooded valley, rocky outcrops, river, bracken slopes and riverside glades.
News
Dunsford
Dunsford is a river valley woodland, flood plain grassland and scrub with rocky slopes that form part of a larger SSSI.
The trust has managed the site since 1965 but it is now on a 50 year lease from the National Trust that commenced in 1986.
The wooded valley is dominated almost exclusively by sessile oak which is a relic of abandoned coppice. The canopy height varies from 30-80ft and has a variable under story consisting mostly of holly with patches of rowan and hazel.
Rocky outcrops are present on the site and these thin soiled patches support broom early hair-grass and English stonecrop along with the nationally rare Toadflax-leaved St. John’s-wort.
The river is a typical spate Dartmoor river and also one of the best sea trout rivers in South Devon and a prime area for otters.
The bracken slopes above the river at the Clifford Bridge end of the reserve are a good habitat for a number of butterflies. This is particularly the case with fritillary butterflies and up to five species have been spotted on the hillside and on the meadows below.
The riverside glades at Dunsford are well known for the display of wild daffodils in early March. These are continuously managed to reduce the encroachment of scrub.
Download a guide to this nature reserve here.
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