Why Devon's Hedgebanks Are So Special

Devon's hedgerows are not just boundary lines. Many are ancient hedgebanks — earth banks faced with stone and topped with a dense mix of hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, ash and field maple. Some date back to the medieval enclosure of the landscape, and a few may be older still. That age matters. The longer a hedge has stood, the more species it accumulates: woodland plants in the shaded base, insects in the leaf litter, birds nesting in the thickets, and small mammals using the bank as a corridor between woods.

Acting as linear woodland, these hedges connect isolated copses so that wildlife can move safely across farmland. For anyone visiting Devon, they are also the easiest place to start looking.

The Hazel Dormouse: Devon's Hidden Resident

Devon is one of the best counties in Britain for the hazel dormouse. Even so, you are unlikely to see one. Dormice are nocturnal, spend most of their time in the canopy, and sleep through much of the year.

Your best bet is to look for signs rather than the animal itself.

• Nibbled hazelnuts: from late summer, search the ground beneath hazel stools. A dormouse leaves a smooth, round hole with tooth marks running around the rim, quite different from the ragged, splintered hole made by a wood mouse or squirrel.
• Woven nests: a ball of honeysuckle bark, grass and leaves, roughly the size of a cricket ball, tucked into a bramble tangle or hedge base.
• Honeysuckle: dormice strip the bark in fine shreds, so honeysuckle stems with exposed pale wood are a good clue.

Never open a nest or handle a dormouse. They are strictly protected, and disturbance can cause a mother to abandon her young.

Bats at Dusk

Devon holds internationally important populations of horseshoe bats. Woodland edges, hedge lines and sheltered lanes are their hunting grounds, and a summer dusk walk is the simplest way to encounter them.

Greater horseshoe bats emerge from roosts about twenty minutes after sunset, flying low and fast along hedgerows before peeling off into pasture. Lesser horseshoe bats are smaller and flit around foliage, often close to head height. A heterodyne bat detector turns their echolocation into audible clicks; horseshoe calls have a distinctive constant-frequency warble.

Stand still, keep torch use to a minimum and use a red filter if you must. Avoid shining white light at bats or into trees, as it disrupts feeding.

Woodland Birds to Listen and Look For

Devon's upland oak woods — the sessile oak woods fringing Dartmoor and Exmoor, and the steep valley woodlands of the Culm and the South Hams — are among the richest in southern England.

• Pied flycatcher: a summer visitor to western oak woods, nesting in holes and old woodpecker cavities.
• Wood warbler: best located by its accelerating, spinning-coin song in May and June.
• Common redstart: flashes its orange tail from low branches and stone walls.
• Nuthatch and treecreeper: year-round residents, often found together on mature trunks.
• Lesser spotted woodpecker: scarce and declining, but still present in a few larger woods.
• Nightjar: churring on heathland fringes at dusk through June and July.

The dawn chorus in late April and May is the single best introduction to woodland birdlife. Arrive before sunrise, stand still and let the sound build.

Reading the Seasons

Wildlife-watching in Devon rewards patience and timing.

• Spring: bluebells and wood anemones in old woods; warblers arriving; hedge buds bursting.
• Summer: dormice active in the canopy, bats at dusk, nightjars on the heath.
• Autumn: hazelnut crop on the ground, fungi in leaf litter, redwings and fieldfares arriving.
• Winter: bare hedges reveal old nests, woodpeckers drum on mild days, and woodland edges attract winter thrushes.

How to Watch Without Causing Harm

Careful observation is the mark of a good naturalist. A few habits make a real difference.

• Keep to footpaths and avoid trampling hedge bases and woodland ground flora.
• Keep dogs on a lead near livestock and in nesting season.
• Stay quiet and wear muted colours; wildlife notices movement and sound long before shape.
• Do not use recorded birdsong playback repeatedly — it distracts birds from feeding and nesting.
• Never handle bats, dormice or birds, and never enter a roost or disturb a nest.
• Take litter home, including fruit peel, which attracts predators.
• Record what you see and pass it to the county records centre or a local recording group, as these sightings shape conservation work.

With a torch, a notebook and a little patience, a Devon lane or oak wood can offer encounters that most visitors never notice.