Moccas Park National Nature Reserve

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Overview

Moccas Park NNR is one of the largest and most diverse examples of wood pasture in Britain, featuring some of the oldest veteran oak trees in the country. These ancient trees host a large variety of epiphytic (non-parasitic) plants and more than 200 species of lichen. A wide range of fungi grows in the forest and grassland, some of them very rare. These rare habitats in turn provide a home to rare insects, at least 13 species of bat, and mammals including brown hare, hedgehog and a specially protected subspecies of the badger. There is also a managed herd of fallow deer. Other mammals include the shy and rare polecat, once pronounced extinct in England but thought to have recolonised from Wales. Nearly 1,000 species of invertebrates have been recorded. Of particular importance are the English assassin fly and the western wood-vase hoverfly, which has only been found at one other site in the UK. The open water on the reserve supports a number of dragonflies and damselflies.

Location

MOCCAS

About the area

Herefordshire is split in two by the River Wye which meanders through the county on its way to the Severn and the sea. Largely rural, with Hereford, Leominster, and Ross-on-Wye the major towns and cities, its countryside and ancient villages are the county’s major asset.