Once the site of major industry, now the native oakwoods are one of the richest habitats of all...
This habitat type supports the largest number of different species of any type of habitat, and is comprised primarily of Sessile oak (Quercus petraea), Hazel (Corylus avellana) and Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia)
Much of the oakwood in this area would have been worked by man, and been coppiced (cut at ground level and the shoots harvested over many years) to produce tanbark and charcoal. Indeed many of the oakwoods that appear so natural today would have been intensively managed, on an industrial scale until as late as the First and Second World Wars.
Dunster Estate Oak woodlands:
• Withycombe Scruffets
• Withycombe Wood
Key oak woodland species to look out for
Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) -
A small slender deer which is the smallest of the Exmoor Deer. A very shy woodland deer, whose presence is usually given away by the fraying of young trees. This is caused by males rubbing their antlers over the bark to scent mark their territorial boundaries. Look out for new fraying in April, when the Roe begin to mate.
Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix) -
Not rare, but of concern due to recent declines in numbers of woodland birds. This attractive bird favours closed canopy woodlands, with little shrub layer. As it is outgrown coppice, Withycombe Scruffets has large areas that are ideal for the wood warbler to fly unhindered as it catches flying insects. Look out for them during April to August.
Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius)
A small mouse sized mammal with large round eyes, rounded ears and short legs. Dormice are found in trees and bushes where they feed on buds, fruit and nuts. Nocturnal and secretive, they hibernate in winter, often in hollow logs and in their distinctive round nests, and are only rarely seen in summer in woodland copses and hedgerows. Dormice particularly favour young plantations, thickets and hedges, where they can move around undercover, and out of sight of predators.