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Wistman's Wood
Wistman's Wood is one of Britain's last remaining ancient temperate rainforests and one of three remote high-altitude oakwoods on Dartmoor in Devon, England. The first written document to mention Wistman's Wood date to the 17th century, while more recent tree-ring studies show that individual trees could be many hundreds of years old. Toponymy The name derives from the Devonshire dialect word ''wisht,'' meaning ‘eerie, uncanny’ or, in some readings, ‘pixie-haunted’. Geography The wood lies at an altitude of in the valley of the West Dart River near Two Bridges, at grid reference SX612772. The source of the Devonport Leat, at a weir on the West Dart River, is just north of the wood. Preservation status The wood is one of the highest oakwoods in Britain, and one of Britain's last remaining temperate rainforests. As an outstanding example of native upland oak woodland, it was selected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1964. Choose "View citation" to acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old-growth Forest
An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines primary forests as naturally regenerated forests of native tree species where there are no clearly visible indications of human activity and the ecological processes are not significantly disturbed. One-third (34 percent) of the world's forests are primary forests. Old-growth features include diverse tree-related structures that provide diverse wildlife habitats that increases the biodiversity of the forested ecosystem. Virgin or first-growth forests are old-growth forests that have never been logged. The concept of diverse tree structure includes multi-layered canopies and canopy gaps, greatly varying tree heights and diameters, and diverse tree species and classes and sizes of woody debris., the world has of primary forest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Okement River
The West Okement is a river in north Dartmoor in Devon in south-west England. It rises at West Okement Head near Cranmere Pool and flows in a generally NW direction past Black-a-Tor Copse and into Meldon Reservoir. After exiting the reservoir it flows in a generally northeast direction towards Okehampton, where it joins the East Okement River to form the River Okement. Its total length is roughly . It is crossed by Meldon Viaduct Meldon Viaduct is a disused railway viaduct crossing the West Okement River at Meldon, Devon, Meldon, south-west of Okehampton, on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, South West England. This truss bridge was constructed from wrought iron, instead o .... References Okement Okement 2WestOkement {{England-river-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sorbus Aucuparia
''Sorbus aucuparia'', commonly called rowan (, also ) and mountain-ash, is a species of deciduous tree or shrub in the rose family. The tree has a slender trunk with smooth bark, a loose and roundish crown, and its leaves are pinnate in pairs of leaflets on a central vein with a terminal leaflet. It blossoms from May to June in dense corymbs of small yellowish white flowers and develops small red pomes as fruit that ripen from August to October and are eaten by many bird species. It is a highly variable species, and botanists have used different Circumscription (taxonomy), definitions of the species to include or exclude trees native to certain areas. A recent definition includes trees native to most of Europe and parts of Asia, as well as northern Africa. The range extends from Madeira, the British Isles and Iceland to Russia and northern China. Unlike many plants with similar distributions, it is not native to Japan. The plant is frost hardy and colonizes disrupted and inacces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pedunculate Oak
''Quercus robur'', the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soils of near neutral acidity in the lowlands and is notable for its value to natural ecosystems, supporting a very wide diversity of herbivorous insects and other pests, predators and pathogens. Description Pedunculate oak is a deciduous tree up to tall, with a single stout trunk that can be as much as in girth (circumference at breast height) or even 14 m in pollarded specimens. Older trees tend to be pollarded, with boles (the main trunk) about 3 m long. They often live longer and become more stout than unpollarded trees. The crown is spreading and unevenly domed, and trees often have massive lower branches. The bark is greyish-brown and closely grooved, with vertical plates. There are often large burrs on the trunk, which typically ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exclosure
An exclosure, in an area being used extensively for grazing, is a limited area from which unwanted browsing (herbivory), browsing animals, such as domestic cattle or wildlife such as deer, are excluded by fencing or other means. Environmental protection Most commonly, exclosures are areas that are set aside for regreening. Wood harvesting and livestock range are not allowed there. Effects on environment The establishment of an exclosure has positive effects on: * biodiversity * water infiltration * protection from flooding * sediment deposition * carbon sequestration Economic benefits In developing countries, people commonly have economic benefits from these exclosures through grass harvesting, beekeeping and other non-timber forest products. The local inhabitants also consider it as “land set aside for future generations”. Carbon credits Exclosures have as an additional benefit that the surrounding communities may receive carbon credits for the Carbon sequestratio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Nature
English Nature was the Executive agency, United Kingdom government agency that promoted the Conservation (ethic), conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and gave statutory advice, grants and issued licences. The Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) (formerly the Nature Conservancy) was established by the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 to cover nature conservation issues across the whole of Great Britain. The NCC was split into four by the Environmental Protection Act 1990—its English duties being given to English Nature. In Scotland, its functions were merged with those of the Countryside Commission for Scotland to form NatureScot, Scottish Natural Heritage, and similarly in Wales there was a merger to form the Countryside Council for Wales. A much smaller body, the Joint Nature Conservation Commi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Conservancy Council
The Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) was a United Kingdom government agency responsible for designating and managing National Nature Reserves and other nature conservation areas in Great Britain between 1973 and 1991 (it did not cover Northern Ireland). Origin and Leadership The NCC was established by the Nature Conservancy Council Act 1973 and replaced the Nature Conservancy, established by Royal Charter in 1949. NCC's duties included: * Managing national nature reserves; * Providing advice on nature conservation to national and local government; * Notifying Sites of Special Scientific Interest; * Undertaking certain scientific research. Robert Edward Boote the former director of Nature Conservancy, having worked on revising its organisation was appointed by the Secretary of State for the Environment as the first Director General of the new NCC. He held this post until retiring in 1980 when Richard Charles Steele became Director General Structure The organisation was divi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessment to form Cambridge University Press and Assessment under Queen Elizabeth II's approval in August 2021. With a global sales presence, publishing hubs, and offices in more than 40 countries, it published over 50,000 titles by authors from over 100 countries. Its publications include more than 420 academic journals, monographs, reference works, school and university textbooks, and English language teaching and learning publications. It also published Bibles, runs a bookshop in Cambridge, sells through Amazon, and has a conference venues business in Cambridge at the Pitt Building and the Sir Geoffrey Cass Sports and Social Centre. It also served as the King's Printer. Cambridge University Press, as part of the University of Cambridge, was a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulex Gallii
''Ulex gallii'', the western gorse or dwarf furzeA R Clapham, T G Tutin, E F Warburg, ''Flora of the British Isles'', Cambridge, 1962, p. 332 is an evergreen shrub in the pea family (Fabaceae), native to the Atlantic coasts of western Europe: southern Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man, western France and the northern coast of Spain. It favours acidic heathy soils and is frequently found in exposed maritime and montane environments. It is more common in the west of its distribution; in eastern England it is replaced in similar habitats by the closely related Dwarf Furze ('' Ulex minor''), with very little overlap in the distribution of the two species. ''Ulex gallii'' is usually tall although it may grow up to . The stems are modified into spines, mostly about long, but with some regularly spaced recurved spines of about . Like other members of the genus ''Ulex'' it has trifoliate leaves as a seedling, but later the leaves are reduced to small scales or spine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaccinium Myrtillus
''Vaccinium myrtillus'' or European blueberry is a Holarctic realm, holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry. It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whortleberry to distinguish it from other ''Vaccinium'' relatives. Description ''Vaccinium myrtillus'' is a small deciduous shrub that grows tall, heavily branched with upright, angular to narrow winged, green-colored branches that are glabrous. It grows rhizomes, creating extensive patches. The shrub can live up to 30 years, with roots reaching depths of up to . It has light green leaves that turn red in autumn and are simple and alternate in arrangement. The leaves are long and ovate to lanceolate or broadly elliptic in shape, with glandular to finely toothed margins; they are prominently veined on the lower surface. In winter, the foliage turns deep red and becomes deciduous. Small, hermaphrodite flowers with thick Pedicel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bracken
Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that undergo alternation of generations, having both large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce gamete, sex cells (eggs and sperm) in its life cycle. Brackens are noted for their large, highly divided leaves. They are found on all continents except Antarctica and in all environments except deserts, though their typical habitat is moorland. The genus probably has the widest distribution of any fern in the world. The word ''bracken'' is of Old Norse origin, related to Swedish ''bräken'' and Danish ''bregne'', both meaning fern. In the past, the genus was commonly treated as having only one species, ''Pteridium aquilinum'', but the recent trend is to subdivide it into about ten species. Like other ferns, brackens do not have seeds or fruit, but reproduce by spores. The immature fronds, known as ''fiddleheads'', ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duchy Of Cornwall
A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign dukes" and dukes who were ordinary noblemen throughout Europe. Some historic duchies were sovereign in areas that would become part of nation-states only during the modern era, such as happened in Germany (once a federal empire) and Italy (previously a unified kingdom). In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that had unified either partially or completely during the medieval era, such as France, Spain, Sicily, Naples, and the Papal States. Examples In France, several duchies existed in the medieval period, including Normandy, Burgundy, Brittany, and Aquitaine. The medieval German stem duchies (, literally "tribal duchy," the official title of its ruler being '' Herzog'' or "duke") were associated with the Fran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
