Yeo Valley Woodland
Wildlife, Plants and Animals
Michael Field, one of the local residents, started his own study of the local wild life on the site and has keenly kept records for nearly a decade of his own sightings. This has been added to more recently by other local members to establish which wildlife inhabits the site. A base line study was commissioned by North Devon District Council, Steve Robbins from Clamland Consultants carried out the base line study in July 2006.
There are over 80 different plant species on the site which provide support for other wildlife including Bluebells, Vipers Bugloss, Lesser Butterfly Orchid and Pyramid Orchid. Some are more invasive than the others such as the Brambles and Bracken but even these do provide a habitat. Whilst walking in the grounds you may not always see the plants but you may be able to smell them, such as the wild garlic.
There are more than 20 varieties of butterflies resident in the site including Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and Marbled Whites, others come to visit such as the Red Admiral and Painted Lady. After all you come here to holiday in Devon - must be the cream teas!
Moths include the Cinnabar, which looks more like a butterfly and the Six-spot Burnet, which only breeds in one location on the site. Most of these are also observed as caterpillars and the Elephant Hawk is a large chunky thing, which is not to be missed. This would be ideal for the local version of ‘I’m a celebrity get me out of here’.
The Golden-ringed Dragonfly could do with some more dragonfly friends and a new pond or water feature could provide a useful environment. It might also aid the Common Frogs and Toads.
Some of the harder to see mammals are the Badgers but the signs of them are easy to find. The Red Fox has also been seen on the site although the local farmers won’t be too happy with their presence. Bats are also seen in early evening.
There are plenty of birds to be seen like the Great Spotted Woodpecker, Northern Bullfinch and European Goldfinch which are some of the regular visitors to garden feeders from the woodland and the Common Buzzard is often seen flying above the woods.
Some of the wildlife not seen on the site recently are deer. Red Kites would also be nice additional feature if we could attract them although elephants might be pushing it a bit too far.
