Page Wood

Some walks offer more than just a pleasant view; they offer a story. They invite you to look closer, to understand the landscape beneath your feet, and to appreciate the slow, steady work of nature reclaiming its own. These are the places that reward effort with discovery, where a challenging climb reveals a world teeming with quiet secrets.

Page Wood is a testament to this idea, a vast woodland that grips the steep western slopes of Salcombe Hill near Sidmouth. While its terrain is demanding, a challenge measured in an endless cascade of steps, this very difficulty has preserved its wild character. It is a sanctuary where nature is in the midst of a great successional journey, a story written in the language of flowers, trees, and the creatures that call it home.

This journey into Page Wood will explore the unique habitats and the resilient life they support. We will delve into the landscape's history, meet its green inhabitants, and discover the feathered and furred residents that thrive in this wilder corner of the Sid Valley.

Page Wood is a large woodland located on the upper western slopes of Salcombe Hill, rising to the east of Sidmouth. The most direct access is from the National Trust car park on Salcombe Hill, but it can also be reached by following various paths up from the town, including the scenic coastal path.

To walk in Page Wood is to contend with its defining feature: the sheer steepness of the terrain. The paths include a "significant number of steps," making sturdy footwear essential and meaning the wood may not be suitable for those with mobility issues. However, this challenging access is precisely what helps protect the wood's interior from heavy foot traffic, preserving a sense of wildness and tranquillity for those who make the journey.

As a vital piece of the local ecological puzzle, Page Wood is managed by the National Trust. It is also one of twelve primary woodland sites identified for study in the Sidmouth Nature project survey, highlighting its importance to the biodiversity of the region.

Page Wood is not an ancient, unchanging forest. Ecologically, it is classified as a "maturing secondary woodland." This means it is a woodland in a state of transition, growing and evolving on land that was once used for other purposes. Its current state tells a fascinating story of natural regeneration over the last century and a half.

The Sidmouth Nature project survey provides a clear snapshot of this story. Researchers recorded 53 total plant species within the wood, and of those, 32 are dedicated woodland species. This gives Page Wood a "woodland plant species dominance of 60.3%."

This figure is significant when compared to the informal 70% benchmark used to identify "ancient" or long-established woodland. The 60.3% metric suggests that Page Wood truly began its journey towards becoming a forest after 1850, a time when intensive hill grazing in the area ceased and nature was allowed to reclaim the slopes. This places it on a clear successional path, aspiring towards the ecological maturity of its neighbour, Combe Head Wood, which boasts a 70.5% dominance, suggesting a much longer, continuous history of woodland cover.

The habitat of Page Wood is formally classified as "Woodland and Scrub (A0)". This classification acknowledges that the wood is not just a collection of tall trees but a complex mosaic that includes dense, shrubby areas, which are critical to its overall health.

What might look "untidy" to the casual observer is, in fact, a sign of a thriving ecosystem. The scrub element, dominated by species like bramble, hawthorn, and blackthorn, is a key stage in the landscape's recovery from the open pastureland that dominated these hills before 1850. It provides essential food in the form of flowers and berries, dense shelter from predators, and secure nesting sites for wildlife. This thick cover is particularly important for various warblers and is the ideal habitat for elusive mammals like the Hazel Dormouse.

The wood’s specific character is profoundly influenced by what lies beneath. It sits on the Upper Greensand geological formation, a type of sandstone that creates the well-drained, nutrient-rich, and slightly acidic soils that define the habitat. This unique geological signature directly cultivates the rich tapestry of plant life found on the woodland floor.

The Famous Bluebells

One of the most significant botanical features of Page Wood is the breathtaking spring display of native Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta). This species is considered an indicator of ancient woodland, as it colonizes new areas very slowly. Their presence here suggests that remnants of older woodland may have survived on the site, allowing the bluebells to spread as the new tree canopy developed. Their proliferation is a key sign of the wood's health, making the protection of the native species from hybridization with garden escapees a critical conservation concern.

Understory Stars

Beyond the bluebells, the woodland floor and edges host a variety of other key plants that tell the story of the wood's environment:

• Greater Stitchwort (Rabelera holostea): With its star-like white flowers, this plant thrives on moist, shaded woodland edges. It is an important early nectar source for pollinators like bees and hoverflies.

• Wood Avens (Geum urbanum): A common perennial of woodland interiors, its presence signals a stable, developing forest floor environment.

• Rough Meadow Grass (Poa trivialis): This grass is a humble but crucial part of the ecosystem, as its root systems play a vital role in soil stabilization on the wood's steep slopes, preventing erosion.

• Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata): Recorded occasionally in the wood, the presence of this plant typically indicates lighter, more open areas such as glades along the paths, adding to the diversity of microhabitats.

Birds of the Slopes

This complex mosaic of high canopy, dense scrub, and open glades provides a multi-layered home for a rich variety of birds. The steep, sun-facing slopes of the wood create ideal thermals—rising columns of warm air—that magnificent Common Buzzards (Buteo buteo) use to soar with effortless grace while scanning the valley for prey. Down in the canopy and understory, the resident European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) can be heard, and sociable flocks of Long-tailed Tits (Aegithalos caudatus) can be seen moving restlessly through the branches.

A Haven for Mammals

The same dense, 'untidy' scrub that shelters warblers provides a perfect sanctuary for protected mammals, though direct sightings are rare. The dense understory, rich with fruit-bearing shrubs, and its connection to the wider Salcombe Hill landscape create ideal conditions for the protected Hazel Dormouse. Furthermore, the presence of veteran trees and a continuous woodland corridor makes the wood suitable for various bat species that rely on such features for roosting and foraging.

Page Wood stands as a vital and beautifully wild link in the Sid Valley's natural landscape. Its value lies not in manicured paths or easy access, but in the powerful interplay between its challenging slopes and its ecological identity. This is a landscape defined by its journey—a living testament to nature's patient reclamation of grazed hillsides, now maturing into a rich woodland sanctuary.

To walk its demanding paths is to witness a landscape in the process of becoming, a place where the steepness that tests your legs also guarantees the wildness that restores your soul. It serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of preserving these challenging, rewarding, and wonderfully untamed natural spaces for the future. How will this evolving woodland look and feel in another hundred years?