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HALSDON NATURE RESERVE
The site is of importance for its large size, of which approximately half is occupied by ancient semi-natural broad-leaved woodland. Halsdon includes one of the largest areas of semi-natural broad-leaved woodland in the area and is of regional importance for this habitat.
There are several kilometers of track through the reserve. Circular routes of various lengths are possible from both car parks. To minimize disturbance access to the fields in the valley bottom is by permit only during the summer months. During winter permits are not required, but we ask visitors to be respectful of the wildlife along the river. Permits are available from DWT on receipt of a written request. A hide is situated on the river bank approximately half way through the reserve.
The standard of the tracks around Halsdon is quite variable but most include sections with steep slopes and muddy conditions. Access from the southern end (Quarry Park Entrance) is much easier with little or no gradient and a smooth well made surface for nearly a kilometer. This part of the site can be accessed by a wheelchair.
Please bear in mind there will be forestry operations during the winter which may restrict access in certain areas.
Limited parking is available at the Ashwell Entrance (SS 554 131) and Quarry Park Entrance (SS 560 117). Please do not block the gates at the southern entrance as this is required for wheelchair access.
Download general nature reserve leaflet
Halsdon has five different walks on offer varying from 1 hour to 2½ hours walk. For a walk with a difference why not try the James Ravilious Photography Trail? All DWT nature reserves are free to enter and most are open 365 days a year. View our nature reserves key here.
Dogs, cycling and horses Policy
Dogs to be kept on a lead at all times. We ask that dog owners clear up after their dogs. Horse riding and cycling are not permitted anywhere on Halsdon nature reserve.
Walking routes
The standard of the tracks around Halsdon is quite variable but most include sections with steep slopes and muddy conditions. There is a section of easy access track from the Quarry Park Entrance. Please bear in mind there will be forestry operations during the winter which may restrict access in certain areas.
Waling routes are as listed below:
Wildlife and habitats
The site is notable for a variety of species which are rare in a national, regional or local context. These include the dormouse, otter, pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera), white-legged damselfly, and specialist beetles associated with river shingle, wetlands and high-quality dead-wood habitats. Kingfishers and sand martins can be spotted along the river. Among plant species, Devon whitebeam, wild service tree and bastard balm are of note. Also look out for bats including Noctules, Daubentons, Brown long-eared, lesser horseshoes, soprano and common pipistrelles.
Halsdon nature reserve covers an extensive area of flood plain pasture and valley-side woodland alongside a 2.6 km stretch of the River Torridge. The flood plain comprises improved, semi-improved and unimproved grassland, scrub and hedge banks. The valley-side is covered by semi-natural broadleaved woodland, with smaller areas of unimproved Culm grassland, acid grassland and improved pasture.
The reserve includes a long stretch of the River Torridge, representing one of the least disturbed stretches of this important Devon river system.
The site contains a wide diversity of habitats: old, neglected oak coppice and coppice-with-standards; younger plantation, secondary woodland and scrub; areas of unimproved, semi-improved and improved pasture, including areas of rush pasture and mire (Culm grassland); the dynamic river channel; and varying bank-side vegetation.
Seasonally flooded, semi-improved valley-bottom pasture is unusual in the region, as is the extent of natural erosion and deposition which is occurring along the river course. The Culm grassland communities are representative of a vegetation type which is typical of the area but now much fragmented and restricted to parts of Devon and Cornwall.
History
Halsdon woods were once associated with Halsdon House. This medieval longhouse was bought into the Furse family in 1680 and remained in their hands for 300 years. The estate was built up by successive generations, in 1854 John Furse who was childless left the estate to his nephew, Charles Johnston, who had to change his name to Furse as a condition of the inheritance.
Charles and his brother coppiced much of the oak woodland and planted exotic species including turkey oaks and rhododendrons. The estate passed down the generations until 1983 when Patrick Furse sold the river meadows to DWT (bought with grant-aid from the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy Council) and donated the woodland, enabling a nature reserve to be created.
The ruins of Dolton Mill are situated on the riverbank. One of the main corn mills for Dolton in Victorian times, it was worked by Mr. Budd, the last miller, until the 1890s.
In the 1970s and 1980s Halsdon was photographed by James Ravilious. A photography trail of James' images has been developed, which includes the reserve. James was a local photographer who in the 1970s and 1980s took more than seventy thousand images of north Devon including Halsdon nature reserve. This trail takes you to some of the locations where James took photos.
After his death in 1999, James’ negatives and contact sheets remained largely inaccessible. Beaford Arts with the support of Leader 4 Torridge and north Devon, have digitally scanned 1700 images which James regarded as ‘best’ and ‘good’. Beaford Arts have used these images to create an online archive where you can search images by location and theme. This project was developed by Beaford Arts with support from family, friends, colleagues, Devon Wildlife Trust, Devon County Council; and Leader 4, through which this project is part financed by the European Agricultural Fund for European Development 2007-2013: Europe investing in rural areas. Visit the Beaford Arts Archive website
For more information on the trail click on the Halsdon walks tab
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