On Saturday 18th May, one week early because of the DPA AGM, 17 members and friends met at Meldon Dam car park. It was a rather grey day but we were dry! The walk started with a fairly steep slope down to the woods.     On reaching the woods, just at the entry, there…

  DPA land at High House Waste, north of Cornwood, includes an area of oak woodland, with a profusion of moss and lichens on the trees and a ground layer mostly of bluebells. In 2009, naturalist John Walters found the wood had a population of a very rare beetle – the blue ground beetle. Ten…

Twenty-two DPA members and friends gathered near the Warren House Inn on Thursday 25th April to visit Hurston Ridge double stone row. The weather was not the best, in fact, it rained occasionally and there was a breeze.     The first item of interest was a WB stone near the road, seen while walking…

On Monday 25th March, twenty-nine of us met at Swallerton Gate car park for a walk to two of Dartmoor’s most well-known sites, Jay’s Grave and Bowerman’s Nose.  The weather was a little grey at first with a cold wind but during the walk the clouds became more dispersed and the sun shone, making it a very pleasant walk. The…

On February 27th the Mardon volunteers enjoyed beautiful weather for the Spring work day. We divided into two groups. One group re-cut the ends of the T-shaped reeve and explored its possible continuation. They then moved on to re-cut an area of second world war trenches on the east slope. The rest of us worked…

What a day!  29 DPA members and friends met at Yellowmeade track car park, the old Mission site across the road and the old Pump House up the road for a walk to Foggintor quarry  on Monday 25th February. The weather was simply gorgeous – blue sky, wall-to-wall sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures. Our car was indicating 16°C…

In a new departure for the volunteers, last Friday 15th February, we joined the DNPA ranger, Ian Brooker, at Moortown Bottom (SX 663 892) to work on habitat for damselflies. The National Park is working alongside the Commoners and landowners to manage the habitat for Southern Damselflies, the lovely bright blue damselflies that we see…

  After a series of cancellations due to poor weather, the volunteers had the chance to make the first visit of the Winter season on Thursday 7th February.     It was a blustery day of sunshine and showers. We were lucky to dodge most of the rain, just catching one sharp downpour. Sheltering behind…

  On a balmy day, on 11 February, the Dartmoor Preservation Association conservation volunteers met at Hillbridge Farm for another day’s work on my land, Common Wood, near Horndon.  We were joined by Butterfly Conservation’s Megan Lowe and Simon Phelps of the All the Moor Butterflies project.  They work with landowners to try to improve the habitat for butterflies…

  On Friday 25th January, 31  aficionados of the Short Walks programme met at Shaugh Bridge car park. The weather was grey and dull – but towards the end of the walk the sun shone on the righteous. We set out to see remnants of four C19th industries – china clay, iron mining, brick works and granite quarrying….