Art in the Park

Natural England have foster relationships with artist in Yarner Wood while it has been a / part of a National Nature Reserve. Here are some examples of more recent temporary uses of the site. Karen Pearson 2012- 2014 Three years of contemporary art collaboration at Yarner Wood and its surrounding Karen Pearson, a local Devon based artist worked closely with the Natural England team based at Yarner Wood and other artists across solo projects and group events between 2012-14. MostRead more

A day of invertebrate sampling with Natural England: helping the Sanger Institute with The BIOSCAN Project

An introduction to invertebrate surveying Invertebrates are hugely significant within the ecosystem globally, as they form the basis level of many food chains. Without invertebrates, the trophic levels above would ultimately suffer and then collapse, leading to trophic cascades and ecosystem collapse. Immense pressure is building upon invertebrates, primarily driven by global agricultural intensification, habitat loss and the likely prospect that global average temperatures will rise above 1.5 degrees in the coming decades and get to 2 degrees by theRead more

Varsity Volunteers

This year the Woodland Trust set up it’s first ‘Varsity Volunteers’ group for students of Exeter and Plymouth Universities, aimed at offering nature conservation opportunities on Dartmoor, meaningful practical work experience and a platform for networking for students. Rosy Stanesby, who attended all of the events has written a blog about her time with the group: I have had the awesome experience of becoming a Woodland Trust Varsity Volunteer this winter. With a fantastic bunch of people, we have madeRead more

Ashes to Ashes – What next for the Tree of Life?

“Yggdrasil, the World Tree, grew on an island surrounded by the ocean, in the depths of which the World Serpent lay. This ash tree’s trunk reached up to the heavens, and its boughs spread out over all the countries of the Earth. Its roots reached down into the Underworld. A squirrel ran up and down the tree carrying messages from the serpent gnawing at the roots to the eagle in the canopy, and back. A deer fed on the ashRead more

Time shows overall success for nest box breeding birds

2022 was the 68th year of monitoring nest boxes at Yarner Wood, and the tally of monitored Pied flycatcher nests has now surpassed 3000 !. As previously blogged about https://wordpress.com/post/eastdartmoorwoods.org/15286, nest boxes were originally provided in 1955 to research nest height choice by tits. The boxes attracted pied flycatchers to breed at the reserve for the first time, and so have been maintained and monitored ever since. Today, weekly nest monitoring is carried out by a group of Natural England staffRead more

It is all a matter of interpretation!

Yarner Wood has a long history of colourful interpretation, dating back to the times a permit was required to visit the woodland. From these early signs, a leaflet was then created – the first editions of which were black and white. Our leaflets and brochures have come a long way since then! You can find our current literature in each of the bird hides and in the office at Yarner Wood. Alongside the first examples of signage and leaflets wasRead more