Exmoor National Park (Day Trip)

Summary

Nestled along the Somerset coast, the Exmoor National Park and Holnicote Estate contain a diverse mix of habitats and wealth of wildlife species. The stunning oak woodlands of Horner Wood will conjure many spring migrant birds including Wood Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart, Cuckoo and Tree Pipit. We will start our day here, wandering along streams that hold Dipper and Grey Wagtail and listening to the sounds of so many resident birds at this time of year. Our ascent into the deciduous woodland is fairly steep but easy going and our focus will be spotting the many woodland butterflies and picking out the different bird songs.

As the woodland levels off we’ll take our time to focus on the magical migrants flitting through the canopy or visiting nesting sites. We’ll navigate to more open ground at Halse Combe to gain fantastic views over the Bristol Channel and spend some time looking for reptiles and butterflies including the localised Heath Fritillary which will hopefully be found laying eggs on Common Cow-wheat.

We will complete our loop and have lunch before relocating by a short drive to Dunkery Beacon. Here we will explore the heather moorland habitat where we will hopefully find Whinchat, Redpoll and possibly some birds of prey. In preference to walking to the beacon we may follow the woodland edge where we will encounter more species and complete our day in late afternoon. 

For trips during the summer there will be lots of other things to look for including butterflies, dragonflies, some early migrant species and of course young of the breeding birds with any luck. 

There will be approximately 8 miles of walking, sometimes across rough, steep tracks (Grade B).