Habitat type: Heathland
Size of reserve: 16ha (39 acres)
OS map number: 102
Grid reference: SW 417 311 (public footpath by Hewas Common)
Best time to visit: Summer and early autumn for flowering heather and gorse
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Directions
Take the A3071 from Penzance. Turn left 0.5 miles (800 m) beyond Newbridge, just after the school. Entry is via the public footpath 0.5 miles (800 m) up this road.
Access
Public rights of way cross the reserve. The path can be muddy and wet.
Characteristic wildlife of this reserve
In summer, the western heath is a patchwork of yellow gorse and pink and purple 
heather. There are three different heathers here. The true heather, or ling, has many tortuously branched and tangled stems, with tiny, flat-lying triangular leaves and loose spikes of pinky-purple flowers. Bell heather grows in the driest area. The needle-like, dark-green leaves are in fact tightly rolled and the crimson-purple flowers are bell-shaped. Cross-leaved heather is similar, but with paler rose-pink flowers and greyish leaves in groups of four. It favours wetter areas.
Bristle bent grass adds its golden haze to the heathland in autumn and combines with the gorse to give the reserve the colours so characteristic of Penwith's unique landscape.
Common dodder is a parasitic plant which looks like red string thrown on to the gorse. It is widespread and in August supports a mass of small, pink flowers.
With its nondescript plumage of streaked brown topside and pale underparts, the meadow pipit can be difficult to see. However, once it sings it comes into its own, performing what is often known as the parachuting display. The male flutters steeply upwards and then descends slowly to the ground, singing all the while, with its wings inclined upward and tail spread.
Other information
A Bronze Age cairn extends a line of three along the east to west ridge. The site is likely to have been used as summer pasture from prehistoric times to the medieval period while, from more recent times, tinners’ pits and quarrying complexes can be found.
