Wistman's Wood is one of a couple of ancient high-altitude oakwoods on Dartmoor, Devon in the West of England. The high moors are covered in the remains of Neolithic villages and megalithic stone alignments. The desolation of the heatherclad windswept moors here is not due to altitude but rather to overfarming and climate changes in te late Stone Age periods and to over-grazing by sheep and ponies in the last few centuries. Wistman's Wood is a small area in a shaded shallow river valley strewn with glacial boulder scree. It is this boulder-field that has protected the trees from grazing and weather. The woodland is characterized by slow-growing, stunted oak and rowan, covered with mosses and lichens.
These pictures were taken on a bright but overcast day in late summer, which accounts for the pervading subtle light.
