Take a look at bounty on pebblebed heath
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| • One of Britian’s most beautiful
butterflies can be found on our doorstep. Picture: Paul Clayden. |
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| • Look for the black ‘mercury’
mark just beneath the wings. |
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| •JEWEL-LIKE - the droplets on a sundew
leaf. |
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| • The vases of the pitcher plant are modified
leaves. |
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| • THE LAST thing a fly will see - the
pitcher trap. |
By James Chubb
East Devon Education Ranger
Six weeks ago, in the first of these articles, I promised you a
tour of the pebblebed heaths. Well, those last few weeks have flown
by and here we are at the final article in the series and my second
chance to rave about my favourite habitat!
East Devon District Council looks after two heathland nature reserves,
Fire Beacon Hill as featured here before and Trinity Hill near Axminster.
And two lovelier Local Nature Reserves you couldn’t hope to
find. But far and away the largest areas of lowland heath in East
Devon are the pebblebeds, owned by Clinton Devon Estates and jointly
managed by the Estate and the RSPB.
The pebblebed heaths are a collection of heathland commons stretching
from East Budleigh north towards Woodbury and Aylesbeare. If you
fly over on your way into Exeter airport at this time of year, they
act like a huge pink marker, showing this area covers some unusual
geography. The pebbles are the clue that this was once a massive
riverbed, with smooth water-worn pebbles and sand. This sandy soil
lies above a layer of clay which doesn’t allow water to seep
through easily and so becomes waterlogged, creating an acidic peaty
soil, low in nutrients and perfect for heathland plants.
Some of the wetter areas of the heath are home to some truly fascinating
plants, some of which you may well find yourself saying: “I
didn’t realise they grew in this country!”
If you go up to Woodbury Common, make sure you’ve got time
to wander down some of the smaller footpaths, rather than sticking
to the big bridlepaths and fire breaks, as it is here that the little
gems are hidden. Where streams have eroded into the soil, producing
cuttings, you can find the tiny round-leaved sundew growing. These
little bog plants can grow in very poor soils as they have an ingenious
method of supplementing their diet.
The leaves are covered in tiny red hairs, each tipped with a shiny
blow of sticky dew. They are decidedly sweet smelling and attract
flies, which land on the leaves and become stuck fast to the leaf.
The leaves then curl over ever so slowly and start digesting the
insect and absorbing the precious nitrogen into its famished stems.
Sundew are easily overlooked as they are really very small, but
elsewhere grows another carnivorous plant which is easier to spot.
Again growing in the boggy areas of the common, the tall leaves
of the pitcher plant grow into long thin vases full of water.
The top of the leaf produces a super slippery sweet liquid, again
to attract flies. When a fly lands to investigate it soon loses
its footing and slips down the vase-like leaf, which is covered
with downward pointing hairs to make escape even more difficult.
The fly drops into the water and drowns before the digestive enzymes
get to work absorbing the fly into the plant. Yummy!
But it’s not all the stuff of an HG Wells novel on the pebblebeds,
there are some delicate beauties too. A couple of Devon’s rarest
insects can be found on Woodbury common. The silver studded blue
butterfly is achingly beautiful. Its tiny blue wings are dazzling
in flight and when it lands its underwings are even more pretty,
with a dusty blue ground colour with spots of vivid white and orange,
with the males having distinct metallic spots on the hindwing.
They are rare in Britain and sadly declining in most areas in which
they are found. They are not strong fliers but can be seen at this
time of year while you are walking across the commons. You’re
less likely to see the second rarity however, as they really do
not fly far from the stream or pool from which they emerged.
The southern damselfly is a tiny vivid blue and black creature.
The UK population is at the very northern geographical limit, but
we still have 25% of the world population of this little insect.
There are many types of blue damselfly and telling them apart is
pretty difficult. You need to get a good look at one perching on
a piece of rush and look for a characteristic blob on the body segment
just below the wings. The common blue damselfly has a round blob
on a stick, while the southern has a complicated splodge which resembles
a donkey’s head – it takes a bit of practice!
The reason southern damselflies are rare is that they have very
exacting requirements that are easily lost when the management of
an area changes. They are very poor at moving from one area to the
next so they can’t recolonise areas quickly. Fortunately the
shallow pools that are so important for their reproduction are being
managed by the Estate, the RSPB and the Devon Wildlife Trust, so
there are plenty of organisations looking out for their future success.
Finally there’s a bird I promised to talk about right back
in the first heathland article. It’s a bird that in 1973 numbered
only seven breeding pairs in the entire country and, thankfully,
now numbers more than that on Aylesbeare Common alone. The Dartford
Warbler is a bird which does very well on our local heaths. In much
the same way as the southern damselfly, it is at the northern limit
of its range and so it depends upon the warm heaths to survive.
I really think everyone who lives in Exmouth should see one of these
great little birds at least once. This is an animal that is special
to our area and we should be rightfully proud to have it living
on our doorstep. The problem is they are a little bit tricky to
see. Not because they are particularly shy, but because they tend
to skulk in the gorse keeping a very low profile and dash between
bushes very quickly.
Help is on hand, however, as we are fast approaching the annual
East Devon Heath Week.
This is time of year when Clinton Devon Estates, the RSPB, the Wildlife
Trust, East Devon AONB and ourselves at the Council, along with
a host of local volunteers, get together to organise a week of public
events at heathland sites across the district.
It’s a brilliant way to get a personal introduction to these
special places from the experts that know them the best as they
work on them every day.
The week kicks off on August 12 with a day of heathland fun up on
Woodbury Common. Everyone involved with the week will be there,
with activities going on all day, so it is the perfect time to pop
along and find out more about the week. If you can’t make that,
log onto the East Devon AONB website for more details of the events
on offer at www.eastdevonaonb.org.uk/events,
or look out for one of the pink Heath Week leaflets in your local
Tourist Information Centre.
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