10: Wild and Wonderful

Wildlife in the area around Axminster is as varied as the countryside, with habitat diversity benefitting from the fact that the landscape is based on both acidic and chalk soils. Roe deer, foxes, badgers and bats are all common.

The chalk of the coastal Undercliff between Seaton and Lyme Regis is well known for its wildflowers but equally for its Peregrine Falcons. The acid boggy heaths of the area are home to plants like sundews with their capacity to trap insects in the sticky hairs on their leaves, and the local lanes and woodlands offer a sea of primroses and bluebells.

The Axe and its tributaries have historically provided fish as food, with the Yarty remaining one of the finest trout rivers in the country. Otters were at one time such a threat to the fish stock that they were hunted for over 100 years. While otters are now making a comeback, North American mink pose more of a threat to fish.