Dendles Wood is an area of protected

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

- beech woodland located on the southern edge of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous P ...

, in the English county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

. Forming part of the Dartmoor

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

, the wood is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and 30

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

of it has been designated a national nature reserve. It is one of five woodlands within Dartmoor that have been protected as national nature reserves. Dendles Wood and the adjacent Hawns Wood are sometimes known collectively as Hawns and Dendles. The wood supports a variety of flora and fauna, representative of upland oakwoods. In particular, it has a rich variety of moss and lichen, and several breeding bird species.

Geography

Dendles Wood is situated on the southern edge of Dartmoor, covering the slopes of the valley around the confluence of Broadall Lake and Ford Brook with the

River Yealm The Yealm is a river in Devon in England that rises above sea level on the Stall Moor mires of south Dartmoor and travels to the sea, passing through Cornwood, Lee Mill and Yealmpton, a mid-sized village with a population of c.2,000 which is ...

. It is about north of the village of

Cornwood Cornwood is a village and civil parish in the South Hams in Devon, England. The parish has a population of 988. The village is part of the electoral ward called ''Cornwood'' and Sparkwell. The ward population at the 2011 census was 2,321. Blac ...

. This village is the nearest stopping point for travel to the wood by car or by bus. In total, Dendles Wood covers . The

runs through the middle of the wood. A path leads through the adjacent Hawns Wood onto open moorland. The wood is located at an altitude of between and . The

parent rock In the earth sciences, parent rock, also sometimes ''substratum'', is the original rock from which younger rock or soil is formed. In soil formation the parent rock (or parent material) normally has a large influence on the nature of the resulting ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

, with some slate in the southern parts of the wood.

Ecology

Flora

Dendles Wood is a representative example of upland oakwood, consisting predominantly of

pedunculate oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...

. However, there are also a number of beech trees, located to the east and south-west of the wood and growing in number. Beech is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

that is not thought to be a native to any other part of Dartmoor. There are also a few species of shrub found throughout the wood, namely the

common hazel ''Corylus avellana'', the common hazel, is a species of flowering plant in the birch family Betulaceae. It is native to Europe and western Asia. It is an important component of the hedgerows that were the traditional field boundaries in lowland En ...

, European holly and rowan. As with Dartmoor's other upland oakwoods, the cool, moist and well-lit environment has enabled a rich variety of mosses and

lichens A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Graphina ruiziana'', of which there is a greater quantity than any other

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

location, and '' Cetrelia cetrarioides'', which is found in other Dartmoor woodlands as well. The more common species in the wood are '' Parmelia laevigata'' and '' Usnea florida''. In terms of moss, '' Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus'' and ''

Thuidium tamariscinum ''Thuidium tamariscinum'' is a species of moss belonging to the family Thuidiaceae. It has an almost cosmopolitan distribution. In a study of the effect of the herbicide Asulam Asulam is a herbicide invented by May & Baker Ltd , internally c ...

'' are both present. Other varieties, such as '' Isothecium myosuroides'', ''

Dicranum scoparium ''Dicranum scoparium'', the broom forkmoss, is a species of dicranid moss, native to most of the northern hemisphere as well as Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Po ...

'', ''

Polytrichum formosum ''Polytrichastrum formosum'', commonly known as the bank haircap moss, is a species of moss belonging to the family Polytrichaceae. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, found mostly in temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere and especi ...

'' and '' Plagiothecium undulatum'', can be found on rocks.

Fauna

Dendles Wood is home to a breeding colony of barbastelles, one of Britain's rarest species of

bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...

. As they were first discovered in the area in 2002, after the designation of the Dartmoor Special Area of Conservation, the bats are not a 'qualifying feature' of the SAC, but Natural England has suggested that this is likely to change following the site's next review. Several breeding bird species, typical in upland oakwoods, can be seen in Dendles Wood. Species include the common buzzard,

wood warbler The wood warbler (''Phylloscopus sibilatrix'') is a common and widespread leaf warbler which breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe, and just into the extreme west of Asian Russia in the southern Ural Mountains. This warbler is stro ...

, redstart and pied flycatcher, as well as the

white-throated dipper The white-throated dipper (''Cinclus cinclus''), also known as the European dipper or just dipper, is an aquatic passerine bird found in Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The species is divided into several subspec ...

and

grey wagtail The grey wagtail (''Motacilla cinerea'') is a member of the wagtail family, Motacillidae, measuring around 18–19 cm overall length. The species looks somewhat similar to the yellow wagtail but has the yellow on its underside restricted to ...

that nest alongside the woodland rivers. A nestbox scheme for the pied flycatcher operates in Dendles and a few other Dartmoor woodlands. Butterflies found in the woods include the

silver-washed fritillary The silver-washed fritillary (''Argynnis paphia'') is a common and variable butterfly found over much of the Palearctic realm – Algeria, Europe, temperate Asia, and Japan. Description The silver-washed fritillary butterfly is deep orange with ...

and

green hairstreak The green hairstreak (''Callophrys rubi'') is a small butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Etymology The genus name '' Callophrys'' is a Greek word meaning "beautiful eyebrows", while the species Latin name ''rubi'' derives from ''Rubus'' (bramb ...

species.

Red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of we ...

and

fallow deer ''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer. Name The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes ...

are both frequent visitors to the area.

History

Dendles Wood is an ancient woodland. According to the

title deeds A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

of Blachford Manor, the wood was formerly known as 'Daniels', probably in reference to a former landowner; 'Dendles' is almost certainly a corruption of this name. For much of its history since the medieval period, the wood has been used for

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

. In particular, when mines on Dartmoor were active, oak coppice was used to produce charcoal for

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ...

. At the end of the nineteenth century, with the decline in the mining industry, the demand for coppice products ceased and Dendles Wood was no longer used for this purpose. Instead, Hawns and Dendles, which was part of the Blachford Estate, became a popular tourist location, opened to the public on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. At the turn of the century, the United Devon Association described it as 'one of the most charming sylvan spots in the whole of Devonshire'. During the 1930s, Dendles Wood was also passed through as part of the Dartmoor Hunt, when starting at Wisdome Mill or Cornwood Common. In October 1965, the

Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nat ...

purchased of the wood from the Economic Forestry Group, to create the Dendles Wood National Nature Reserve. Since this point, access to the Dendles Wood reserve has been restricted; permits for access are granted by the

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

Site Manager. Restrictions also apply to livestock, which are not permitted within the wood; heavy grazing in the past has adversely affected the shrub layer. In 1986, the wood was notified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, which was later expanded with part of the Hawns Wood and High House Moor SSSI.

Literary descriptions

In his 1909 novel ''The Three Brothers'', Dartmoor author

Eden Phillpotts Eden Phillpotts (4 November 1862 – 29 December 1960) was an English author, poet and dramatist. He was born in Mount Abu, India, was educated in Plymouth, Devon, and worked as an insurance officer for ten years before studying for the stage a ...

described Dendles Wood as follows:

In the glen beneath spread Dendles Wood, with fringes of larch and pine hiding the River Yealm and spreading a verdant medley of deep summer green in the lap of the grey hills.

References

{{reflist

External links

Dendles Wood
at

National nature reserves in England Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Devon Woodland Sites of Special Scientific Interest Dartmoor Forests and woodlands of Devon