What Three Words: ///deluded.palettes.expand
OS Grid Reference: SX105589
This is a quiet nature reserve and companion to Madderley Moor on the opposite bank of the river
Shirehall Moor is, like the rest of Lostwithiel, within the Upper Fowey and Pont Pill Marine Conservation Zone, on a drowned valley or ria, formed by the rising sea level after the last glacial maximum of the Ice Age. The whole estuary has been designated as a County Geology Site due to its geology and unspoilt nature. The Moor itself is an unusual (for Cornwall) example of an estuarine salt marsh. It is hoped that the moor will be officially designated as a local nature reserve and many improvements to the natural habitat were carried out here between 2003 and 2007 in preparation for this. Unfortunately progress has been slow to date. Madderley Moor, across the river from Shirehall Moor, comprises a large reedbed, most of which is accessible only by boat. It was originally called Meadow-Hay Moor and was used as summer pastorage.
Small Copper butterfly at Shirehall Moor (Martin Surgey)
Bird species such as cormorants, little egrets, dippers, herons (the woods around Penpol Creek are one of Cornwall's largest heronries), tawny owls, little grebes and kingfishers can be seen on the river all year round, swallows are regular summer visitors and in winter the river is home to an influx of Canada geese, while seasonal waders include sandpipers, redshank and greenshank. Feeding grey seals sometimes venture upriver as far as the moor, and ospreys stop off in the estuary on their 3,000-mile migration to West Africa. Peal Pool, at the lower end of Coulson Park, is one of the best holding pools for salmon and sea trout on the tidal Fowey and there is a bass nursery at nearby Golant, where the young fish feed on the abundant sand eels. Flounder and mullet are also present at certain states of the tide. Harvest mice have recently been found on Shirehall Moor.
Canada Geese at Shirehall Moor (Martin Surgey)
To find out why this was not always such a peaceful place