Ventongimps Moor nature reserve

Habitat type: Heathland and woodland Size of Reserve: 8ha (20 acres) OS Map No. 105 Grid reference: SW 780 514 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 A30, 1.5 miles (2.5km) south west of Zelah, take the turning for Ventongimps. After 1.5 miles (2.5km), turn left at a T-junction and then first left. Entry to the Moor is from a footpath a few hundred yards up the road.

Access:

Limited parking near the entrance. Paths in between the sections of boardwalk can get very muddy and stout footwear is recommended.

Classification

Description:

An exceptionally rich mosaic of wet and dry heath, with areas of bog, ponds and woodland. This combination provides a unique series of habitats that used to be widespread but is now restricted to a few special places.

Characteristic wildlife of this reserve:

Dorset heath is a rare plant in the British Isles, and Cornwall has the second largest area (106ha) of the habitat in which it occurs, after the plant’s main stronghold in Dorset. This attractive heather, with its long spikes of deep magenta, urn-shaped flowers, blooms late in the summer, from June to September. In Cornwall, Dorset heath is concentrated in 17 main sites to the north and west of Truro, remnants of a once more-extensive heathland in mid-Cornwall.

The ponds provide an excellent habitat for dragonflies and damselflies. Damselflies are usually smaller than dragonflies and rest with their wings together over their backs; dragonflies hold their wings out to the sides at rest.

The round-leaved sundew is a distinctive small perennial. Its leaves are covered in reddish hairs tipped with a sticky 'dew' to trap unsuspecting insects. Other hairs and the leaf margin then curl inwards to enclose them. The plant secretes digestive juices and the liquified insect is absorbed by the leaf, replacing nutrients missing from the poor moorland soil. It has been estimated that one sundew can catch up to 2000 insects in a summer.

Other information:

Earliest mention of the Moor was in 1311 as "Funtenvaes" (fenten means spring or well).

In 1977, aircraft enthusiasts found the remains of a World War 2 bomber. The aircraft was taken away for restoration - and the hole formed a valuable new pond.

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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