Discover Dartmoor’s Rainforests: Shaugh Bridge — Focus on mosses

We walk beside the lovely River Meavy before climbing up through the woods to Dewerstone Rock and a moorland stretch with fine views to drop down to Cadover Bridge, returning to Shaugh along the wooded bank of the Plym.  

The woodland sections abound in luxuriant mats of rainforest mosses and their cousins, the liverworts.  These plants are descended from the very first to venture out of the sea, colonising the land and creating the oxygen that allowed animals to follow.  You will learn a little more about the importance of these easily overlooked plants, and start to pick out a few common species.