A Devon Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve
This wet and wild nature reserve provides rich rewards for visitors prepared to take their time and who don't mind a bit of mud!
About the reserve
A series of freshwater springs feeds this reserve. Its wet-peatland was once common here in the Blackdown Hills but is now very rare.
The permanently wet soils mean a host of peat-loving plants still thrive here. Ashculm Turbary is also home to good numbers of dragonflies and birds.
Taking your time
Narrow and uneven paths lead you through heather and purple moor grass. The reserve's plant life may seem pretty uniform, but take the time to look and you'll also see a host of wet-loving species including oblong-leaved sundew, pale butterwort and bog asphodel.
Harvest mice find a home in tall grass stems - look for their distinctive, spherical nests about the size of a satsuma. At dusk barn owls hunt these mice and other small mammals.
Ashculm Turbary has a healthy population of dragonflies. Look for golden-ringed and emperor dragonflies among many others from late spring through to early autumn.
Move with stealth and care and you could be rewarded with the sight of an adder, grass snake or slow worm, while common frogs, toads and smooth newts can also be seen.
Combine your exploration of Ashculm Turbary with visits to our other Blackdown Hills nature reserves, Clayhidon Turbary and Lickham Common.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves/ashculm-turbary
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A Devon Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve
Clayhidon is a small wildlife haven nestled in the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of East Devon.
Clayhidon Turbary's thirteen hectares are made up of heathland, scrub and young woodland. It can be very boggy in parts, but for those willing to make the effort, it's a place rich in natural and local history.
What 'Turbary' means
Clayhidon Turbary was once used by local people who grazed their cattle there and who also cut peat from the site to use as fuel to heat their homes. This ancient right is at the root of the name 'Turbary'.
In recent years these uses declined and the heathland had begun to lose its special character. However, in 2011 Devon Wildlife Trust stepped in to take on the management of Clayhidon Turbury and made it a nature reserve.
In the years since, the charity has been using its experience gained at other nearby Blackdown Hills nature reserves to restore the site to former glories. A major breakthrough came when the charity gained more than £35,000 of support for the nature reserve from Biffa Award - a multi-million pound fund which awards grants to community and environmental projects across the UK.
Thanks to this support the nature reserve now has stock-proof fencing around the site to keep ponies and cattle in. The grazing of these animals plays a critical role in opening up the reserve, allowing wildflowers and insects to flourish once more.
Today Clayhidon is well on the way to recovery. Make a day of exploring the wildlife and wild places of the Blackdown Hills by also visiting Devon Wildlife Trust's Lickham Common and Ashculm Turbary nature reserves.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves/clayhidon-turbary
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A Devon Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve
Wet, boggy and full of wildlife! You'll sometimes meet our Exmoor ponies at Lickham Common.
https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/nature-reserves/lickham-common
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