Chapter V: Fauna and Flora

The really interesting _fauna_ of Somerset belongs to a past age, when mammoths, elephants, and rhinoceroses, cave lions, bisons, bears, and hyaenas roamed over its surface. Their remains have been found in the caverns of Hutton, Bleadon, Banwell, and Wookey, and are preserved in Taunton Museum. Of the wild creatures which at present occur in the county, the only one which confers real distinction upon it is the red deer, which roams at large on both Exmoor and the Quantocks. Badgers are not uncommon near Dulverton and in the more uncultivated districts. The very diversified character of Somerset makes it the home of a large variety of birds, the Quantocks and Exmoor sheltering many of the predatory kinds, the long coast-line attracting numerous seafowl, and the fenny country of the centre affording a feeding ground for the different kinds of waders. Of the resident species which are comparatively uncommon elsewhere may be mentioned the hawfinch, the greater and lesser spotted woodpecker, the carrion crow, the raven, the buzzard, the hen-harrier, and the peregrine falcon. Among the regular visitors are included the white wagtail, the pied flycatcher, the nightjar, the black redstart, the lesser redpole, the snow bunting, the redwing, the reed, marsh, and grasshopper warblers, the siskin, the dotterel, the sanderling, the wryneck, the hobby, the merlin, the bittern, and the shoveller. As occasional visitors may be reckoned the wax-wing, golden oriole, cross-bill, hoopoe, white-tailed eagle, honey buzzard, ruff, puffin, great bustard, Iceland gull, glaucous gull, and Bewick's swan. Visitors that may be supposed to have reached the county only by accident have scarcely a claim to be noticed here, though perhaps allusion may be made to an Egyptian vulture seen at Kilve in 1825, and specimens of Pallas's sand-grouse observed near Bridgwater, Weston-super-Mare, and Bath.[1]

As regards the _flora_ the elevated position of parts of the county makes it the home of a number of plants which do not commonly occur in the South of England. Thus there are found on Exmoor the crowberry (_Empetrum nigrum_), the parsley fern (_Cryptogramme crispa_), and the oak fern (_Phegopteris dryopteris_). _Asplenium septentrionale_ is found at Culbone; _Listera cordata_ grows on Dunkery and near Chipstable; and the cranberry (_Oxycoccus palustris_) is said to occur at Selworthy and on the Brendons. On the other hand, Somerset likewise furnishes congenial conditions for those plants that love low-lying, marshy ground, and on the peat-moors in the Glastonbury district the flowering fern (_Osmunda regalis_) and the bog myrtle (_Myrica Gale_) are met with. Within the British Isles the following are found only in Somerset: _Dianthus gratianopolitanus, Hieracium stinolepis, Verbascum lychnitis_, and _Euphorbia pilosa. Arabis stricta_ occurs only on the limestone near Clifton; _Helianthemum polifolium_ is confined to Somerset and Devon; _Pirus latifolia_ to Somerset and Denbigh.[2]

[1] For the birds of Somerset, see a paper by the Rev. Murray A. Mathew,
M.A., F.L.S., in the "Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological
and Natural History Society," vol. xxxix., from which we have
borrowed.

[2] For fuller information, see "The Flora of Somerset," by the Rev.
R.P. Murray, M.A., F.L.S., from which the above facts are taken.