Lanvean Bottoms nature reserve

Habitat type: Heathland Size of Reserve: 5ha (12 acres) OS Map No. 106 Grid reference: SW 880 663 Best time to visit: Summer
Cornwall Wildlife Trust encourages the use of environmentally friendly forms of transport wherever possible. Click on the locator map above to go to the National Cycle Network website and view an Ordnance Survey map of this reserve highlighting nearby cycle routes.

Directions:

From Mawgan Porth on the B3276, take the road to St Mawgan. Go past the first turning on the right to St Mawgan until you arrive at the five-lane crossroad. Take the second exit on the left and keep going until you reach the bridge and stream at the bottom of the hill. Access to the reserve is through a small woodland area on the left via a wooden gate about 20m downstream from the bridge.

Access:

Parking is very limited on the road near the bridge. There are no footpaths; the best route for visitors would be to follow the western bank of the stream, downstream from the gate. Underfoot, conditions are very wet and boggy and there are many fallen branches and protruding tree roots.

Classification

Description:

The wetter areas of woodland are sheltered by a canopy of grey willow and ash, whilst oak and hazel dominate the woodland on drier slopes; some areas of the site have been coppiced in the past. Wet flushes and redundant drainage ditches are scattered throughout.

Characteristic wildlife of this reserve:

The dormouse is a nocturnal species, spending most of its waking hours climbing among tree branches in search of food - fruit, insects, nuts, flowers and pollen. Dormice hibernate during the winter and can lower their body temperature to become torpid if there is a shortage of food or if bad weather stops them foraging, thus saving energy. Because of this ability, they may spend three-quarters of their year "asleep"; possibly why dormice in the wild also live much longer - up to five years - than other small mammals.

The scarlet elf cup, an attractive and edible fungus, is found in great abundance throughout the woodland in winter, usually hosted by dead wood. The caps, which do indeed resemble dainty porcelain vessels, have very short stalks. As the cups develop they have a tendency to split at the edges, giving larger cups a rather ragged edge.

Other information:

Lanvean Bottoms was a gift in 1999 from Miss D Ball.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust Nature Reserves

List of reserves ... Armstrong Woods Bakers Pit Beales Meadow Bissoe Valley Bosvenning Common Cabilla and Redrice Woods Caer Brân Carn Moor Chûn Downs Churchtown Farm Chyverton Devichoys Wood Downhill Meadow Fal-Ruan Estuary Five Acres Fox Corner Greena Moor Halbullock Hawkes Wood Helman Tor Kemyel Crease Kennall Vale Lanvean Bottoms Loggan's Moor Loveny Lower Lewdon Luckett Maer Lake Nansmellyn Marsh North Predannack Downs Park Hoskyn Pendarves Wood Penlee Battery Phillips's Point Priddacombe Downs Prideaux Wood Quoit Heathland Redlake Cottage Meadows Ropehaven Cliffs Rosenannon Downs St Erth Pits St George's Island Swanvale Sylvia's Meadow Tamar Estuary Tincombe Trebarwith Tresayes Tywardreath Marsh Upton Meadow Upton Towans Ventongimps Moor Welcombe & Marsland Windmill Farm

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