Tarr Steps Woodland National Nature Reserve

Recommended by

Overview

The Tarr Steps Woodland NNR is best known for its ancient clapper bridge called Tarr Steps, a Scheduled Ancient Monument that spans the River Barle. But the surrounding moss-covered woodlands are also of high importance for nature conservation. The woodlands at Tarr Steps is owned and managed by the Exmoor National Park Authority and consists of three woods: Liscombe Wood, Knaplock Wood and North Barton Wood. Together, they make an area of about 82 acres. Management work at Tarr Steps Woods includes gap creation and thinning to improve the balance of light and shade and encourage the growth of woodland flowers. The main reason for the NNR designation was because of its rare lichens, such as lungwort lichen, which thrive in the moist, clean air of the valley. But woodland birds such as tawny owls, pied flycatchers and green and greater spotted woodpeckers also live in the woodlands and mammals include otters and dormice.

Location

Tarr

About the area

Somerset remains rural and unspoiled, and ever popular areas to visit are the limestone and red sandstone Mendip Hills rising to over 1,000 feet, and by complete contrast, to the south and southwest, the flat landscape of the Somerset Levels. Another popular spot, the Quantocks, once the haunt of poets Coleridge and Wordsworth, are noted for their gentle slopes, heather-covered moorland expanses and red deer.