KNHS walks and events

Walks & Events

KNHS Outside events

KNHS members arrange walks to local areas of interest with landscape and wildlife organisations and professional guides

We will announce trips online and by email

You are welcome to bring friends, or members of your family, along to our meetings and outdoor events facilitated by external bodies and professional experts

Slapton Ley is the largest natural lake in south-west England. Although it is only separated from the sea by a narrow shingle bar, it is entirely freshwater. The lake is surrounded by reedbeds, marshes and woodland habitats. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and was declared a National Nature Reserve (NNR) in 1993. The nature reserve is open daily and there are no entrance fees. The NNR is managed by the Field Studies Council in partnership with the owners Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, Natural England and South Hams District Council.

Slapton Ley FSC

KNHS suggestions for wildlife walks

Kingsbridge to Bowcombe Creek

Start - Quay Street car park,

Kingsbridge. TQ7 1JD

A delightful 2.5 mile route following creeks and green lanes steeped in the trade and travel of past times.

This short moderate walk offers melting views of the boat-bobbing estuary and charming South Hams countryside, and a host of waterfowl and wading birds into the bargain. On a rising tide you will see innumerable grey mullet feeding near the surface.

Tor Woods video by Geoff Foale

Andrews Wood video by Geoff Foale

South Efford Marsh video by Geoff Foale

Snapes Point Path video by Geoff Foale

Watkins Wood

(Part of Avon Valley Woods), Woodleigh

Grid reference SX743493

Avon Valley Woods, which is spread across 139.4 hectares (344.5 acres), is a collection of sites around the village of Woodleigh, near Kingsbridge in the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

It is formed by a group of four areas of woodland: Avon Wood (made up of Woodleigh Wood, Bedlime Wood, and Titcombe Wood), Aveton Wood, Centry Wood and Watkins Wood.

There is a circular way-marked trail from the car park on the north and west side of the Woodleigh to Hendham Road that leads through Watkins Wood into Woodleigh Wood, down to the river Avon and back again

Watkins or Woodleigh Wood

West Alvington Wood

Grid reference SX 725442

You can walk to this wood from Kingsbridge by going up Westville Hill (the road to Salcombe) and turning right down a public right of way along a gravel drive opposite Ashleigh Road

In Spring there are plenty of wildflowers; bluebells, wild garlic, dog's mercury, and wood anemones

This mature wood, with lots of fallen timber will be alive with bird song and you may spot nuthatches and great spotted woodpeckers prospecting for nesting holes

Look for the messages carved on the 200 year old smooth-barked beeches, some carved by US soldiers in WW2

The old chestnut trees have spirally ascending lines of bark and provide plenty of sweet nuts for the many squirrels

A buzzard is often to be seen circling above the parkland meadow by West Alvington Wood. The biggest of our common birds of prey, it is a majestic sight sailing the thermals on its broad, ‘fingered’ wings. Buzzards hunt rabbits, small rodents and birds, but they’re not above picking around in the fields for earthworms too, particularly in the winter. West Alvington Wood is a wonderful little pocket of old woodland. Its trees are mostly oak, beech and sweet chestnut. Below these taller trees grow many- stemmed, silvery barked hazel. Their catkins – known as ‘lamb’s tails’ - come out very early in the spring, and if you look closely you can see the tree’s tiny red female flowers poking out of the end of some of the buds, looking a bit like miniature sea anemones. Later in the year, their nuts feed many woodland creatures. If you come across a hazelnut shell on the ground that has been split right through, the nut will have been eaten by a squirrel. A neat round hole gnawed in the shell, on the other hand, is the tell-tale sign of a mouse. The tussocks of downy green blades carpeting the woodland floor are great woodrush, which throws up sprays of chestnut brown flowers in the late spring. Spring also brings washes of bluebells to the wood, along with the right white star- shaped flowers of wild garlic with their pungent, oval leaves

AONB Walks

Gara Rock to Mill Bay and back

Grid Reference SX 752373

Park at Gara Rock but don’t head for the restaurant, rather go west through a gate and along a footpath which leads you to a sunken lane leading down to the beautiful Mill Bay. Then follow the coast path westwards as it winds back to Gara Rock

The sunken lane is bordered by amazing 400 year old lime trees. After Mill Bay you look down from the path at the clear water of the estuary and may see sandwich terns diving for small fish. Further out gannets often put on spectacular fishing displays

Look below you to check for peregrines on rock pinnacles and ravens nest along this stretch. Migrant birds like whitethroats, blackcaps and chiffchaffs will be singing from gorse bushes

This is also a good place for early butterflies like brimstones, peacocks and holly blues

The views are wonderful and skylarks will be singing

AONB Walks

Topsham Bridge to Silveridge Weir

Grid reference SX 733511

Park just west of the attractive stone bridge, which you cross, and turn right down the road. After 200m climb a stile on your right and follow the path beside the clear water of the River Avon

At times you will be walking on the bed of the old railway and just beyond an intact bridge you will be at the remains of Silveridge weir. Retrace your steps when you feel you’ve gone far enough

Look out for dippers along the river and especially at the weir. The woods hold nuthatches, and buzzards often mew overhead. There’s a good chance of seeing a kingfisher and goosander are occasionally about. Butterflies should be active, with speckled woods and tortoiseshells likely and some early mayflies may lift from the water surface causing trout to rise. Newts spawn in rivulets beside the path

There will be lots of wood anemones, bluebells and wood sorrel under the trees

Longer Walk

Slapton Ley and village

Grid Reference SX 828443

Easy to Moderate. 4 flights of steps. There is a viewpoint with disabled access

Along the top of the shingle ridge at Slapton Sands grow several rare plants, including Viper’s Bugloss, and the Yellow Horned Poppy, the ‘horned’ part referring to its long curved seed pods

In spring, if you stand on the bridge just outside the reserve entrance you may see the

startling sight of thousands of fish. These Roach, Rudd, and Perch are massed here to spawn

Just after you enter the reserve from the road, a shelter on the left contains a blackboard with recent bird sightings. Autumn and spring bring migrating birds pausing here as they pass through. Starlings roost in huge numbers in the reedbeds during the winter, and up to 20,000 Swallows gather here in the Autumn to roost. Wildfowl on the Ley include Pochard, Wigeon, Shoveler, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, and Gadwall. The Great Crested Grebe is a regal-looking resident of the Ley. The ‘boom’ call of the Bittern is occasionally heard, when this shy bird overwinters on the reserve. There is a chance you might see another national rarity, the Marsh Harrier

The reedbeds are visited in the summer by Reed Warblers. These small, brown, narrow- billed birds

are able to cling to the vertical stems of the reeds. Rarer still, Cetti’s Warblers are Slapton residents

Wildflowers include Primroses, Celandine, Bluebells and Wild Garlic. The spring and early summer also bring out white Stitchwort, and Red Campion. In the wet areas grow miniature carpets of Golden Saxifrage. Dwarfing these are the stands of Hemlock Water Dropwort, a poisonous plant, it produces white ‘umbrellas’ of flowers on tall stems, and has large parsley- like leaves

Extracts from the AONB website

AONB Walks

Kingsbridge Natural History Society

September to April Talks Venue

West Charleton Village Hall

West Charleton TQ7 2AG

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