Fernworthy Reservoir Wildlife walk

Fernworthy reservoir is located just 15 minutes’ drive from the beautiful village of Chagford within Dartmoor National Park. Home to several acres of meadow, woodland, and moorland it is the perfect place for a spot of wildlife watching. There are several bird hides located around the easy to follow trail around the reservoir and plenty of lookout spots to look for different species. The area is also home to the endangered marsh fritillary butterfly, which you may be lucky enough to spot on warmer days.  This wildlife walk will take you half way around the reservoir to the first bird hide before retracing your steps back to the viaduct and returning to the car park.

To see the OS version of this walk, click here.

Note: I did this walk on a day that it also chose to torrential rain, but I still spotted grebes, frogs, geese and noted other birds on the Merlin bird sound app. Don’t let the weather put you off exploring just make sure you pack a raincoat!

• Distance: 2.3 miles
• Type: linear
• Ascent: n/a
• Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Start

The route begins at the carpark. It is just £2.50 parking for two hours or £5 for the whole day. If you plan to take lunch with you and spend time wildlife watching, I would pay for the full day. You are then going to follow the trail to the left of the carpark that is marked ‘round reservoir walk’.

Boathouse Bay

The trail will lead you past Boathouse Bay which has a small building and angling slope into the reservoir. If you want to get a good view across the reservoir you can head down here to the shoreline. There is also an area here that would be good for a picnic or quick snack break! Continue onwards along the trail which will slowly lead you slightly out of sight of the reservoir depending on how overgrown everything is! It was along this path that I saw a large number of frog and toadlets.

Bridge and Woodland

After a little while of walking you will reach a woodland area and a bridge. It’s here that you should keep a look out for siskins, goldcrest, and other woodland bird species. Once through the woodland you should come out into a wider green area and following the trail will lead you once again to the edge of the reservoir. Here there Is lots of space for potential picnic breaks and wildlife watching on the reservoir.  

Bird hide

Slightly further around the edge of the reservoir you should find the bird hide which has good visibility across the reservoir. Unfortunately, when I visited it was closed because they were redecorating the inside area, however, from the outside and it’s positioning it would be a great spot for birdwatching.

Return and view over the reservoir

On my particular visit I chose to finish my walk after reaching the bird hide and turn back following the same route, however if you wanted a longer walk you can continue on the trail looping all the way around the reservoir. If not, then turn back and head along the same route as before up until you reach Boathouse Bay- here instead of going back into the car park you are going to follow the path along Potter’s bank.

Potter’s Bank

This little area of path is great for spotting various butterfly species whilst also giving a great view of the edge of the reservoir and down into the valley. You can follow the path all the way up to the edge before heading round away from the water and up into a little forest area. This will then lead you all the way back to your starting point and the car park.