Fun on the farm
I like to find campsites close to interesting wildlife, but it’s rare to find the interest actually on site. Even without the wildlife, Venn Farm is one of the best Caravan and Motorhome Club CLs we have ever stayed on, with fully serviced pitches and absolute quiet. But there’s more to it than that; the owners of this site have created a wildlife oasis and a network of paths for its guests to use.
The pond is a magnet for dragonflies and damselflies; the most numerous species we saw were blue-tailed and azure damselflies and emperor dragonflies, many of which were mating and laying their eggs.
The paths meander between verges of waist-high grasses and wildflowers, sheltered by numerous trees. Here, we saw masses of butterflies from the common varieties such as comma, meadow brown, ringlet and gatekeeper to the less common and quite stunning silver-washed fritillaries.
By sitting out in the evenings, I saw roe deer and foxes, but it was the beavers I had come to see. Beavers are being reintroduced to a number of areas in the UK, but generally only in captive enclosures.
The only genuinely wild and free beavers, as far as I am aware, are in Scotland where they live on the River Tay, the River Otter in east Devon and here in west Devon where they have escaped from captive breeding enclosures nearby.
To see beavers requires a fair amount of patience. It is necessary to sit still next to one of their small lakes in the evening and wait for an hour or two in the hope that they decide to show themselves while there is still enough light to see them.
They might choose to bless you with an appearance and, when they do, it is difficult not to be excited; what a privilege it is to watch one of these highly evolved creatures going about its business.
My best sightings at Venn Farm involved a youngster, known as a kit, gnawing away at a piece of willow branch, manipulating it with its paws. After a meal, it had a scratch and swam happily away. It doesn’t get any better than that and, thankfully, I was able to share the moment with Sarah.
NOTE
Beavers are wild animals and don’t show up on demand. I have looked for them at this site on two visits for a total of six evenings and only succeeded on three of those occasions. ● When waiting for beavers, wear dark, rustle-free clothing and sit very still, preferably downwind of them