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)
Follow the fences and please close all gates. Paths can be muddy after rain. Terrain 1.5 if approached from Edgbarrow School, terrain 2 if approached from main car park (N 51° 21.617 W 000° 47.835). 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