I-spy Nature at Dittiscombe and Beyond
Connecting with nature on holiday at Dittiscombe can be a rewarding experience.
The 26 year old rewilding project at Dittiscombe Estate provides a haven for nature – for any animal, local or visiting, which decides to fly over, nest in, or live here. Earlier this year, when for the first time two otters were spotted swimming in the lower pond, that exciting moment underpinned what Ruth and Jon have been doing for so long – welcoming all wildlife into Dittiscombe valley and connecting their guests with nature on the doorstep.
Over the years the Dittiscombe Rewilding Project has seen many species come and go. It’s useful to create a record of them, maybe for a new project, for local research knowledge, or maybe even to find a new discovery! But it’s quite a job. So we are very grateful to our guests who like to get involved – some get hands-on and some do citizen science* while they’re here.
Fortunately, it’s now easy to record wildlife sightings using the various apps available through smart phones. The INaturalist app easily identifies plant species from a quick photo uploaded to the site. The Merlin bird song app is also really helpful – when you can hear birdsong but can’t identify the bird, Merlin will listen to your live recording and almost instantly come up with a suggestion (it’s usually correct, although not always!). Guests can add it to the Dittiscombe Rewilding Project, then we combine it with our total species records. If it’s something unusual or rare we pass it on to our friends at the Devon Rewilding Network and various colleagues and ecologists we work with.
There is also good old fashioned ‘looking things up in a book’, and we have lots of excellent Field Studies ID charts and other guides which are really useful, all accessed from the noticeboard and library area at Dittiscombe Farmhouse.
But it can be a causal chat about wildlife with our guests which is so informative. We hear about their sightings, and see the excitement and awe which some of them experience while staying here. We know some guests feel inspired and go home to create a wildflower meadow in their front gardens, or cut holes in their fences to allow hedgehogs to travel through, take up the No Mow May and Let it Bloom June call to action, and generally avoid being ‘too tidy’ in the garden which is not great for wildlife.
Introducing visiting children to the world of nature is rewarding too. There’s plenty for them to discover here, and they quite often find the miniature wildlife, the small insects, glow worms, froglets or toadlets which adults miss. We have bug pots with magnifying glasses where a bug can be inspected more closely before being released. We have sweep nets to take into the long meadow grasses. In these we catch (and release) many crickets and grasshoppers in the summer, and everyone is always amazed to see their highly evolved and engineered bodies.
We also have a bat detector, and for those who can stay up beyond dusk, sitting out in a cottage garden or taking a walk to the lower pond might be rewarded by hearing the amazing sound of a bat’s echolocation. Pipistrelles and Noctules are often discovered here.
In the Summer months Ruth holds regular Sunday Nature Walks with lively local ecologist Ken Neal. These events are free to our guests and other visitors (although we do ask for a voluntary contribution to the Devon Wildlife Trust). We meet at 10am for two hours to stroll around the grassy meadows, woods and ponds, looking for wildlife and chatting about how we can all do our little bit to encourage more nature into our green spaces at home. It’s fun and lighthearted, all questions are good questions, and we always learn something new.
We hold volunteering days in the Autumn and Winter which might include hedge-laying, clearing, cutting and raking, and building new habitat sites. Further coppicing in the hazel wood is usually done early in the new year. There’s nothing quite like doing some hard outdoor work in the fresh Devon area, combined with a bit of fun, a picnic and some good stories to share with a group of like-minded folk.
The spring water which flows through our valley eventually finds its way to the beautiful National Nature Reserve of Slapton Ley (about 2 miles away, a 10-minute drive or 50-minute walk from Dittiscombe). This is a huge freshwater lake which sits behind a shingle bank and which is protected from seawater on the other side. It provides a different set of unique habitats – particularly great for resident and migrating birds, and insects, fish and otters. There’s an easy-walk nature trail around most of it with fabulous views of the water and reeds and some information boards along the way.
The tutors and rangers at the Field Study Centre, who are the NNR custodians located at the education centre in the heart of Slapton village, offer interesting nature walks, talks and an annual Nature Festival during school holidays. Take a look at their Facebook page for more information.
Your holiday at Dittiscombe can be filled with nature experiences on site if you wish, or you can just dip your toe into that world briefly, before setting out to discover the rest of the special South Hams area on your doorstep.
Cottages at Dittiscombe are available to book all year round. Dittiscombe is dog and family friendly with cottages sleeping 1-4 guests, all with their own gardens and private access to the nature trail and woodland within the valley.
If you’d like to know more about the Sunday Nature Walks with Ken and Ruth and other nature connection experiences visit the Nature Themed page, and if you’d like to know more about volunteering days get in touch with Ruth on 07821 260787 or e-mail [email protected].
*Find out more about citizen science and all the types of projects you could get involved in at Zooniverse.
