Motorhome Travel: Dartmoor
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Dartmoor isn’t all about moors and tors, but it offers a great destination
At the heart of Devon is the Dartmoor National Park, with its characteristic moorland and distinctive granite tors. These moors are wild, rugged places supporting a wide range of wildlife in some of the most beautiful environments in Britain. Around its fringes are a greater range of habitats.
We started our visit near Tavistock and a local nature reserve called Lopwell Dam. Some of the reserve’s highlights include otter, kingfisher and roe deer, all possible throughout the year. In summer there are many butterflies, including the silver-washed fritillary. Spring flowers include dog’s mercury, lesser celandine, dog violet, primrose, wood sorrel and wood anemone. In July, twayblade is a special flower found here.
Since the skies were opening sufficiently to let some sun through, late in the afternoon I persuaded Sarah to let me drive to Brent Tor for an evening of landscape photography. I was greeted by a male kestrel hovering over the tor, but this visit was all about capturing the light on this amazing tor-top chapel. The view of Dartmoor from here is exceptional.
Our last full day was spent visiting a few popular haunts including Haytor and Bovey Tracey. Between the two is Yarner Wood National Nature Reserve. This is probably the best place in the southwest to see pied flycatchers during summer. But our highlight was a lesser spotted woodpecker.
This is an extract from a longer article in August 2014 MMM magazine. To order your copy, click here
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