Dizzard ( kw, Dyserth, meaning ''very steep'') is an area, in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

St Gennys St Gennys ( kw, S. Gwynnas) is a coastal civil parish and small settlement in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet of St Gennys is about seven miles (11.3 km) southwest of Bude.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 190 ''B ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

, containing five farms (or former farms). On the coast is Dizzard Point (), and the unique, dwarf oak, Dizzard Wood, which is of international importance for its lichen communities.

Geography

Dizzard is between the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the valley and cove of

Crackington Haven Crackington Haven ( kw, Porthkragen, meaning "sandstone cove") is a coastal village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is in the civil parish of St Gennys at at the head of a cove on the Atlantic coast. The village is seven miles (11& ...

to the west and the

Millook Millook is a deep coastal valley and hamlet in the parish of Poundstock, on the north coast of Cornwall, England. In 2014 the cliffs at Millook Haven were voted by the Geological Society of London as one of Britain's top 10 geological sit ...

woods and valley to the east. There are five named farms or (former farms); Dizzard Farm, East Dizzard, Higher Dizzard, Old Dizzard and West Dizzard. Surrounding Dizzard Point are the stunted oaks of the Dizzard Woodland. There are a number of designations for the Dizzard cliffs, including part of the Widemouth to Crackington

Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological ...

site, within the

Boscastle to Widemouth Boscastle to Widemouth is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Cornwall, England, noted for its biological and geological characteristics. The Dizzard dwarf oak woodland is unique and of international importance for its lich ...

SSSI A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle o ...

, and the

Pentire Point Pentire Head ( kw, Penn Tir, meaning "headland") is a headland and peninsula on the Atlantic coast in North Cornwall, England, and is about one mile square. The headland projects north-west with Pentire Point at its north-west corner and The R ...

to Widemouth, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Heritage Coast.

Access

The Atlantic Highway is two miles to the east and a minor road from Wainhouse Corner to Millook passes through the Dizzard. The minor road is also part of

National Cycle Route 3 Route Bristol to Bridgwater West Harptree , Charterhouse , Wookey Hole , Glastonbury The route goes south from Bristol into Somerset and around Chew Valley Lake Bridgwater to Land's End Taunton , Bideford , Bude , Bodmin Bod ...

. The

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises ...

, which follows the coast of south-west England from

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

and passes above the wood and along the top of the cliff.

Wildlife and ecology

A stunted woodland grows on a landslip from the top of the cliff () down to sea-level. Exposure to salt-laden winds has resulted in a tight wind-pruned canopy with trees from 1 to 8 metre high. Sessile oak (''

Quercus petraea ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, Irish Oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unofficial emble ...

'') is the dominant species with pedunculate oak ('' Q. robur''), birch ( ''Betula'' spp), rowan ('' Sorbus aucuparia'') and a few wild-service trees (''

Sorbus torminalis ''Sorbus torminalis'', with common names wild service tree, chequers, and checker tree, is a species of tree in the mountain ash or rowan genus (''Sorbus'') of the rose family (Rosaceae), that is native to Europe, parts of northern Africa and we ...

''). Many of the trees are swathed in lichens and moss with 131 species of lichen recorded and there are a number of species that are largely confined to a few north Cornwall and Devon sites. One hundred and twenty flowering plants have been found including, bluebell (

Hyacinthoides non-scripta ''Hyacinthoides non-scripta'' (formerly ''Endymion non-scriptus'' or ''Scilla non-scripta'') is a bulbous perennial plant, found in Atlantic areas from north-western Spain to the British Isles, and also frequently used as a garden plant. It is k ...

), dog's mercury (''

Mercurialis perennis ''Mercurialis perennis'', commonly known as dog's mercury, is a poisonous woodland plant found in much of Europe as well as in Algeria, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus, but almost absent from Ireland, Orkney and Shetland.Sagina subulata''), primrose (''

Primula vulgaris ''Primula vulgaris'', the common primrose, is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and parts of southwest Asia.''Flora Europaea'Primula vulgaris''/ref> The common nam ...

''), sanicle ('' Sanicula europaea''), sheep's sorrel (''

Rumex acetosella ''Rumex acetosella'', commonly known as red sorrel, sheep's sorrel, field sorrel and sour weed, is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Native to Eurasia and the British Isles, the plant and its subspecies are co ...

''), small bristle club rush (''

Isolepis setacea ''Isolepis setacea'' (syn. ''Scirpus setaceus'') is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family known by the common names bristle club-rush and bristleleaf bulrush. It is native to Eurasia and Africa, and possibly Australasia. It can be foun ...

''), wild strawberry (''

Fragaria vesca ''Fragaria vesca'', commonly called the wild strawberry, woodland strawberry, Alpine strawberry, Carpathian strawberry or European strawberry, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the rose family that grows naturally throughout much of the Nort ...

''), wood garlic (''

Allium ursinum ''Allium ursinum'', known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amary ...

'') and wood vetch (''

Vicia sylvatica ''Vicia sylvatica'' ( syn. ''Ervilia sylvatica''),C. A. Stace, ''New Flora of the British Isles'', 4th edition 2019, p 171: ''Ervilia sylvatica''. . known as wood vetch, is a species of flowering plant in the bean family Fabaceae. It was descri ...

''). Damp areas are dominated by bilberry (''

Vaccinium myrtillus ''Vaccinium myrtillus'' or European blueberry is a holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry. It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whor ...

''), cow-wheat ('' Melampyrum pratense''), tufted hair-grass ('' Deschampsia cespitosa'') and the ferns broad buckler fern ('' Dryopteris dilatata'') and royal fern (''

Osmunda regalis ''Osmunda regalis'', or royal fern, is a species of deciduous fern, native to Europe, Africa and Asia, growing in woodland bogs and on the banks of streams. The species is sometimes known as flowering fern due to the appearance of its fertile fr ...

'') are abundant. The hay-scented buckler-fern ('' Dryopteris aemula'') is of interest. There was a

heronry A heronry, sometimes called a heron rookery, is a breeding ground for herons. Notable heronries Although their breeding territories are often on more protected small islands in lakes or retention ponds, herons breed in heronries (or also called ...

here in the first decades of the 20th-century.

Lichens

There is a rich ''Lobaria'' community including tree lungwort ('' Lobaria pulmonaria'') which grow on the oaks. A number of species are confined to north Cornwall and Devon, these include '' Bombyliospora pachycarpa'', '' Graphina ruziana'', '' Lecidea carollii'', ''

Melaspilea ochrothalamia ''Melaspilea'' is a genus of lichen-forming and lichenicolous fungi in the family Melaspileaceae. The genus was circumscribed by Finnish lichenologist William Nylander in 1857. Species *'' Melaspilea amarkantakensis'' *'' Melaspilea amota'' * ...

'', ''

Pannaria rubiginosa ''Pannaria'' is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Pannariaceae. The widespread genus contains an estimated 51 species, found primarily in tropical regions. Species *''Pannaria aenea'' *''Pannaria andina'' *''Pannaria aotearoana ...

'', '' Parmeliellia atlantica'' and '' Parmeliellia plumbea''. Other notable lichens include the blue-grey '' Stricta limbata'' and the yellow-orange '' Pseudocyphellaria crocata''.

References

Bibliography

* {{Use British English, date=September 2015 Farms in Cornwall Forests and woodlands of Cornwall National Trust properties in Cornwall Nature Conservation Review sites