The walk to Golitha Falls gives the opportunity for quiet enjoyment to experience an atmospheric world of wood, water and stone. For it is here that the river Fowey tumbles off the granite massif of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, England through a series of cascades and waterfalls on its journey to the sea. The granite in this deep, tree clad, gorge has been shaped over the last 100 centuries by the force of river water. Oak woods have existed on the steeper slopes of this site for at least one thousand years and support a range of woodland plants, insects and mammals. The high humidity within the gorge, coupled with high rainfall and unpolluted air has encouraged the growth of very rare, slow growing, mosses, liverworts and lichens for which the site is of national importance. Other creatures associated with the unpolluted river waters include the secretive otter, breeding birds such as dipper and grey wagtail and fish including salmon and sea trout. Besides the river are ditches and leats dug during the mining era in the mid 19th century. Their slow flowing water is home to both toads and frogs. The banks are ideal for a wide range of plants including lady fern, wild angelica, hemlock, water dropwort, common violet, opposite leaved golden saxifrage and navelwort.
I have taken quite a number of photographs of this beautiful place so I have decided to show half of them here and the other half next blog.
To be continued
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