Wildmoor Heath is a precious survival of rare heathland habitat and home to a rich, but fragile, community of fungi, insects, reptiles, birds, mosses and flowering plants. Unlike many other flat heaths, Wildmoor Heath is situated on a slope and offers visitors a wonderful range of habitats and views, from wet and dry lowland heath and valley bog, to mature pine and broadleaved woodland. Wildmoor's varied habitats attract a range of birds, including endangered ground-nesting birds. The open heath with its scattered cover of scrub provides ideal conditions for the tree pipit, stonechat and woodlark. The 'churring' call of the well-camouflaged nightjar can be heard at night.
The valley bogs, fed by small springs from the higher ground, contain wet, peaty areas with a carpet of no less than nine species of bog-mosses, scattered with locally scarce plants such as bog asphodel, butterwort, white beaked-sedge and the round-leaved sundew, which feeds on small insects trapped by the sticky hairs on its leaves. The Trust's herd of British White cattle and New Forest ponies have made a critical difference to the bogland habitats by preventing the coarse purple moor-grass from taking over. This has created ideal conditions for dragonflies and damselflies - 20 species have been recorded here. These beautiful insects may be seen from boardwalks that cross some parts of the bog. (www.bbowt.org.uk/reserves/wildmoor-heath)
Revised position from the original cache location, cache is now on higher ground. Follow the footpaths and please close all gates. Paths can be very muddy after rain so pick your way carefully! GPS can be jumpy under the trees. Take care over all the tree roots. This is a popular area for muggles walking their dogs, so stealth may be needed!
Designed by South Berkshire District Scouts as an aid to the Scout Geocaching activity badge: Find five geocaches using a GPS, at least 3 of which must be 'multi-caches' with at least two waypoints