Wistman's Wood is one of only three remote high-altitude oakwoods on Dartmoor, Devon, England. (The other two are Black Tor Beare on the West Okement at SX565892 and Piles Copse on the River Erme at SX644620.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wistman%27s_Wood
Features of interest
Wistman’s Wood NNR is the most famous of 3 high altitude woodland copses on Dartmoor. The wood is surrounded by granite tors and moorland and the NNR is important for the mosses and lichens found on the site’s trees and granite boulders.
The oldest trees are about 400 years old, with the woodland area doubling in size in the last 100 years.
The reserve was the site of one of the largest Bronze Age settlements in Dartmoor. The remains of almost 100 ancient buildings can be spotted.
Woodland birds such as redstart and spotted flycatcher can be seen in the wood in spring and summer, along with wheatear, stonechat and whinchat in open areas. Winter brings merlins, meadow pipits and skylarks. Short-eared owls and hen harrier can be seen on the darkest winter days.
Dartmoor lockdown crowds 'destroying' ancient woods 26th Jan 2021
An influx of lockdown visitors taking exercise on Dartmoor has raised concerns about an ancient woodland.
Devon county councillor Philip Sanders said people had been camping, making fires and stripping moss from the trees at Wistman's Wood.
The woods, which cover about nine acres (3.5 hectares), are thought to be the remnants of a forest dating back thousands of years.
Mr Sanders said the damage had brought him "to the verge of tears".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-55808392
