STARS OF THE FOREST
Cardinham’s streams and river draw many birds to the woods. The kingfisher, with its striking turquoise and orange plumage, likes to hunt fish in slow-moving water, and lucky walkers might glimpse a metallic flash above the languid green of Cardinham Water. Listen out for the the sharp chee whistle it makes in flight. Another colourful bird, the grey wagtail, likes faster-running water. Despite the name, its underside is a bright canary-yellow, and you may spy it hunting insects above the streams. The dipper, by contrast, wades into the water, immersing its dark plumage and white chest as it forages for shrimp and insect larvae along the river bed. Look up higher, and you may spy sparrowhawks, or buzzards floating by. Back at ground level, bird feeders near the café attract siskin – lively yellow finches – marsh tit and many common woodland birds. There are bright flowers – and berries too – among the forest greens. Common cow wheat bears pale yellow flowers through to September, while southern marsh orchids bloom in spectacular purple spikes. Bilberries are a wild cousin of the blueberry and should be ripening to purple sweetness now.
Red and roe deer graze the woodland, and after dark it’s a place for badgers and foxes, and the tiny hazel dormouse. Known also as the common dormouse, it is native to Britain but threatened by habitat destruction. You’re unlikely to spot one of these shy, nocturnal creatures, but if you see a hazelnut shell with a neat circular hole gnawed in it you know one has been this way.