Station News
Rame Head is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The local
habitat provides interesting and suitable areas for a variety of species,
especially birds and insects, either as established residents or as migrants.
The once-rare Peregrine Falcon can now be seen, along with other birds of prey, all year round. Occasionally a few Cirl Bunting are seen near the Lookout. A familiar sight near the station is the Stonechat, another bird that enjoys the coastal gorse habitat along with more common birds like the Linnet.
The Dartford Warbler,
a rare resident in Britain,
populates
the gorse-covered
cliff-tops along Whitsand Bay.
Some butterfly species also migrate and Rame is a prime area to see Clouded Yellows , which vary greatly in numbers from year to year, and later in the year, large numbers of Red Admirals arrive and very occasionally the rare Monarch, brought by winds all the way from North America. Some of the more interesting resident butterflies are becoming rather scarce. Pearl Bordered, Small Pearl-bordered and Dark Green Fritillaries are seen occasionally, but only in singles. The Dingy Skipper seems to be very scarce now, but the Wall, although rarely seen nationally, appear in reasonable numbers at Rame.
The light at the entrance to the station is a great attractant for moths, some of which remain on the walls of the station. In recent years these have included some rare or specialized species. The Beautiful Gothic is now found only on the south coasts of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset and has been found several times recently at the station. Similarly rare or coastal species seen here recently have been the day-flying Thrift Clearwing, seen near the station and in other suitable localities nearby. There have been a couple of recent sightings of the Black-banded and the Yellow Belle which can be found in quite large numbers occasionally in late summer. Of course, some moths are also migrants and in a good year, typical migrant species like the Hummingbird Hawk-moth, the Rusty Dot, the Rush Veneer and the Silver Ycan be seen, the latter two species sometimes in very high numbers.
© L Truscott - www.caradonwildlife.org
From November to May, you will see several Dartmoor ponies grazing around our station. They are used as part of the habitat management regime on Rame Head, which is a notified Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its plant life and geology.
As there are only a few original extremely hardy Dartmoor ponies left on Dartmoor, the better grazing areas at Rame improve the condition of the mares before breeding and so increase the number of true Dartmoor ponies.
There
are several fund raising events planned during the year.
Please contact the
station for full information.
A
few comments from visitors to our station:
.... Great views, fantastic coastal station – very good work ....
.... Fabulous, re-assuring to know you’re here, thank you ....
