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9. Keep right through rugby club car park. Cross road and stile onto footpath down steep scrubby field.


10. Join the road left, then turn immediately left through the Recreation Ground. At the road, turn right, and follow the Creek back to the car park.


Heritage Kingsbridge gets its first historical mention in a charter of 962, and the town was at one time owned by Buckfast Abbey. Trade was via the sea. Ships plied between the estuary and south west France in mediaeval times, and at one time clippers, schooners and barges were all built here. Later still, packet steamers loaded and landed goods at the Quay. The advent of steel ships finally put paid to Kingsbridge as a port. Bowcombe Creek was once a busy transport route, with boats taking slate from the nearby quarry, and cider produced on local farms. Barges also headed up the creek to the mill at its head. One of the arches of the bridge was originally made of timber, and pivoted on 12 cannon balls to allow shipping to pass through.


Landscape The estuary of which Bowcombe Creek and Kings- bridge Creek are both part, is unusual in not being fed by a sizeable river. However, it was formed in a similar way to other estuaries. Melt-waters carved out the valleys during the last ice age, and these valleys flooded to form the estuary when the ice age ended and sea levels rose.


Wildlife On the right at Washabrook Lane is a mass of Buddleia, with mauve and white cone flower heads. This shrub is a


Shelduck Curlew


magnet for butterflies in the summer. The shady green lane from Washabrook abounds in


characteristic hedgerow plantings such as Hazel and Blackthorn, along with Elder. All are hung with edible fruits in the autumn. Ferns include the prolific strap-like Hart- stongue, and there are Cuckoo Pints along the banks. These shade-loving plants are also known as ‘lords and ladies’. They have a distinctive form, with a finger-like purple flower spike framed by a pale greenish cowl, which gives way later in the summer to a cluster of bright red berries atop a fleshy stalk. Butterflies to be found along these lanes include Red Admiral and the delicate brown Speckled Wood with it cream markings and black ringed ‘eyes’. Bowcombe Creek is a haven for many birds. The trees


Peregrine


across the creek used to house a huge heronry. This has now gone, but the odd Heron may still be seen standing motionless by the water. Brilliant white little Egrets are a common sight both here and by the creek in Kingsbridge. Buzzards are often seen overhead, rising on the thermals on broad fingered wings, as is the swifter, smaller Peregrine Falcon. The Creek is host to Mallard and Shelduck,


the latter sporting red bills and black heads, with orange and dark markings against their white body plumage. Wading birds


are numerous, particularly in winter. They feed here


on worms and tiny invertebrates on the mud banks and shoreline, and have bills adapted to probing the mud and picking around for food. Redshank and Greenshank, with red and grey-green legs respectively, are found here. So too are the orange-billed Oystercatchers, and Curlews with their long, down-curved bills and haunting call.


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