Ponies are the most iconic symbol of Dartmoor, but for me hawthorn trees come a close second.
I love watching the trees change all year around - the leaves appearing in spring, then buds blossom as the season turns to summer, and leaves turn yellow before they fall in the autumn giving way to the deep red berries of winter months.
According to folklore a hawthorn tree stands at the threshold to the otherworld and is home to fairies. I definitely haven’t seen any of those on my wildlife hunts!
I can understand the mystical fascination with these trees though, as many hawthorns grow into strange shapes blown by the wind, and also grow in inhospitable places. They can look quite spooky if you come across one looming out of the mist on a foggy day.
It’s also known by other names such as quickthorn, hawberry, thorn apple and May tree. The latter due to the old custom of its leaves and flowers being used in May Day wreaths and garlands.
Hawthorns aren’t the only berry-producing plants around at this time of year. You’ll also see blackberries, sloes, elderberries and rowan berries.
Rowan trees
Rowan trees, like hawthorns, also like to grow in odd places, but have the most beautiful orange-red fruit which stands out against the autumnal landscape.
According to Scandinavian mythology rowan trees growing in inaccessible places possess powerful magic, and in Norse mythology it’s the tree from which the first woman was made. In the UK the folklore revolves around protection from enchantments.
I saw two ‘magical’ rowan trees last month on a visit to Crazywell Pool, near Burrator Reservoir. Walking down from Whiteworks, near Princetown, it’s about a mile-and-a-half first along the main stony path and then following beside a leat. It was on the latter part I saw a rowan tree growing out of a vertical bank, and at the pool was another on an equally steep slope.
I enjoy swimming in rivers and pools as it feels like you’re immersed in nature and can often see things you wouldn’t otherwise encounter from solid ground. I’d gone to Crazywell Pool for a wild swim and the water was a little chilly, but I was rewarded by a couple of swifts swooping past me as I swam.
Great grey shrike
Sometimes the best sightings are often the unexpected ones. A couple of weeks ago I was in the Cox Tor area on the western side of Dartmoor when I had a brief encounter with a great grey shrike.
I’d been taking photos of hawthorn berries when I saw movement in the gorse next to the path. There was a flash of a hooked beak, then a flurry of grey and I watched it elegantly glide away while admiring the bar of white along its wingspan.
It’s a striking bird that’s nicknamed ‘the butcher bird’. It kills prey with its hooked beak and then impales them on thorns or barbed wire to be eaten at leisure.
The great grey shrikes are regular visitors to the UK, but aren’t common. You can usually spot them during autumn and winter, and then they return to their breeding grounds in Scandinavia.
Migrant birds
They aren’t the only visitors during the colder months. All those berries provide a vital food source for native and migrant birds.
I also saw some meadow pipits, just before my great grey shrike sighting. These are native small brown songbirds which suddenly rise up from ground and keep just ahead of you as you walk, singing out their piping call until you eventually get past them.
They like the heathland and will move from uplands to lowland areas during winter. While they supplement their diet with seeds and berries, their main food source is small insects.
The mistle thrush is also native and will usually be the only bird on a tree as they’ll defend it from other birds. You may also spot the colourful Jay, though their food of choice are acorns so are most likely to be found in woodland.
Other migrant birds include redwings and fieldfares, both members of the thrush family with the former being the UK’s smallest true thrush and the latter being a similar size to the mistle thrush, but very sociable.
You may also see flocks of golden plover on the moorland. They have a beautiful yellow-spotted plumage and gather in lowland areas during the colder months.
I’ve seen many photos of them and they’re on my list of ones to spot this year, so I'll be out with my camera, hiking over moorland and hanging out around hawthorn trees watching for the golden plover and our other autumn visitors.
© Gillian Adams, October 2020