Church Farm Haccombe, 29th April

Following Andrew Cooper’s entertaining talk on wildlife in the West Country, a visit to his historic home, in the picturesque valley of Haccombe, was eagerly awaited. Here he & his wife made the decision over 10 years ago, with support from the Countryside Stewardship scheme, ‘to farm for wildlife’. They were concerned because so much of our natural heritage had been lost to intensive farming methods & were determined to conserve & restore as much as possible.

As we gathered by the farmhouse, a former coaching inn, sights & sounds brought back memories of an earlier age. A fox crept warily in & out of a woodland edge, swallows swooped down, around us, to pick up pieces of straw & dip them in mud for nesting material, bird song filled the air, pheasants & a green woodpecker called, rabbits scampered in the meadows, & a stunning primrose bank was lit by the spring sunshine- (flowers that had recently been filmed for a BBC Gardener’s World programme next spring).

Before leading us around his ‘secret valley’ Andrew told us that the 40 acre farm was built on the site of a Doomsday manor & that the discovery of a flint arrow head was evidence of life here as long ago as 6000 years. The variety of habitat, with its ancient woods & parkland, flower meadows, stream, waterfall, mill pond, scrubland, hedges & high open spaces, is a haven for wildlife.  

Strolling to an ancient bluebell wood where roe deer are present, we learnt how to estimate the age of a hedgerow, by counting the number of different trees & shrubs along a 30m stretch & multiplying the total by 100. The hedges are about 600 years old!

Haccombe valley has its own micro climate & an astonishing wealth of flora & fauna.

Rare cirl buntings nest on the farm & are regularly monitored by RSPB staff. Everything these birds need for survival is provided-a field of spring sown barley for food, clumps of brambles to nest in & a hay meadow to encourage lots of grasshoppers with which they feed their young. Did you know that 90% of British cirl buntings live in Devon?  Before the Second World War they could be found right across southern England, but by the late 1980’s only 118 pairs remained. Fortunately since 1989, their numbers have increased to 700 pairs, thanks to the RSPB & the cooperation of farmers like Andrew. As we admired the rich, red soil where spring barley had been sown Andrew explained that the vivid colour was caused by coral & rust!

A row of flowering cherry trees looked pretty near the restored mill pond having been ‘planted’ by badgers we were amazed to learn. They love cherries & being meticulous creatures regularly use certain areas as latrines, hence the clusters of beautiful blossom trees!

 Did you know that shelduck nest in tunnels in rabbit burrows? They can be found here in the banks of the pond & once the ducklings have hatched the families make their way to the river Teign about a mile away, probably by tumbling down the waterfall & following the stream. During a recent boat trip from Exmouth to Brixham I noticed several shelduck flying close to the estuary & felt privileged to have seen their probable nesting site at Haccombe.

We wandered past woodland where wild garlic flowered profusely, filling the air with its pungent scent & in the trees above chiffchaffs called, a sparrowhawk soared on rounded wings, buzzards mewed & a cuckoo could be heard. High above the farmhouse we could see an area set aside for nesting skylarks.  

We then passed barns where kestrels & swallows were nesting, but the barn owl box was empty as the female died last year, so let’s hope the male soon finds a new mate. We were shown the posts where barn owl chicks practised flying in the evening, watched by Andrew from the house. What an idyllic spot! Finally we saw a weasel home in a fence post hole & a flower meadow where glow worms may be found.

Over a cup of coffee we looked at a print of a very old map on skin of the hamlet of ‘Hackcombe’, reflecting that Andrew & his wife are very worthy guardians of such a special place.  Andrew then offered to show us around St Blaise Church, one of the smallest churches in England with a remarkable Crusader tomb, rare brasses & a long association with the renowned Carew family. It is also famed because a previous priest, the Reverend Keble Martin began to paint flowers in the parish for his Concise British Flora in Colour.

Having thanked Andrew & his wife for a truly magical morning we took our leave, our spirits uplifted by all we had seen & heard.

Carolyn Channing