Lower Lewdon nature reserve

Habitat type: Grassland and woodland Size of Reserve: 5ha (11 acres) OS Map No. 126 Grid reference: SS 256 096 (stile on northern boundary) Best time to visit: All year
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:

On the B3254, 1.5 miles (2.2km) south of Kilkhampton, is a turning to Hessaford. From a small car park on the left, a little way along this road, is a waymarked footpath leading to the reserve.

Access:

There is limited parking, a boardwalk and a waymarked track that can be uneven in places and also muddy when wet.

Classification

Description:

This reserve is contained within a large triangular enclosure which forms part of a steep-sided valley. The site has many springs, so a large part of the land is waterlogged for much of the year. It is a mosaic of culm grassland and woodland, crisscrossed with rides and paths.

Characteristic wildlife of this reserve:

The marbled white butterfly has been in decline in recent years, but can be seen here from late June through to August. Long grass, particularly red fescue, provides a sympathetic habitat for these attractive butterflies.

The willow tit is a scarce bird in Cornwall and a speciality of the culm, more or less restricted to wet willow woodlands. With their uniform grey-brown plumage, black cap and bib, they look very much like the more widespread marsh tit. One of the best ways to separate the two is from the very harsh nasal call of the willow tit.

The culm grassland contains the pretty, blue-flowered devil’s-bit scabious, an essential food plant for the larvae of the rare marsh fritillary butterfly. The Trust is conducting a survey organised by Natural England and Butterfly Conservation, to monitor the presence of this butterfly by counting the number of larval webs found on the devil’s-bit scabious.

Other information:

The reserve was purchased in 1993 with a grant from Christopher Cadbury.

The name Lewdon first appears in documents dated back to 1548 and the reference to “down” indicates that it was once part of a larger area of open grazing land.

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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