Wet and Mossy walk to Trowlesworthy Tors, Dartmoor
Art and Energy’s guided mossy walk from Cadover Bridge to Trowlesworthy Tors, Dartmoor, took place on a slightly wet and windy day in July. However the weather didn’t deter our attendees, in fact one even cycled from Plymouth to join us!
We were joined by local bryologist Tim Purches who generously shared his time and botanical knowledge with us once again.
Our friend Bex Blades, farmer at Trowlesworthy Tors also joined us to show us around and share her knowledge of farming on the Dartmoor commons.
On the farm we found more than six species of sphagnum moss in the surface boggy areas, and some other lovely flowers including ivy leaved bellflower.
We were also pleased to come across an unusual plant associated with peatland pools - Marsh Club Moss, Lycopodiella inundata, which despite the name is not a true moss but a primitive non-flowering plant which is more closely related to ferns. Tim plans to return to carry out some further botanical surveys in the area for the British Bryological Society.
Our thanks to Tim and Bex for braving the weather and sharing their knowledge and expertise with us.
Our thanks to the Devon Environment Foundation for their funding support for this event and our wider In Moss and Moor work on Dartmoor.
