About the reserve

Wildlife highlights

Many common species of tit can be seen in the woods and the rarer willow tit also breeds here. 

• In spring - listen out for warblers in spring as they return from Africa to breed: whitethroat, blackcap, chiffchaff. Willow, garden, grasshopper and sedge warblers can all be seen. Cowslips, early purple orchids and cuckoo flower are in abundance.
• In summer - Ringlet and small pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies can be seen on sunny days on the wet grassland. You can find orange tips, peacock and even dark green fritillary butterflies.   Various damselflies and dragonflies species are commonly seen including common blue and large red damselflies as well as southern and common hawkers.
• In autumn - devil's-bit scabious is flowering, common darter dragonflies soak up late sun.  Look out for redpoll and redwing arriving.
• In winter - flocks of fieldfare and redwing feed on the hawthorn berries and roe deer and brown hare seek refuge in the vegetation.

An interesting landscape of diverse habitats

Dubbs Moss is a naturally damp hollow surrounded by farmland. A peat layer beneath the central area suggests it once had a small tarn, which over the past 10,000 years has become in-filled with plant matter.

Today, birch woodland, an area of damp fen grassland plus an area of dry herb-rich grassland with lichen-encrusted hawthorn scrub provides a wide-ranging landscape that attracts many different plants and animals.   

The western part of the nature reserve is covered by relatively recent birch woodland.  There is an area of damp fen grassland and a higher area of dry herb-rich grassland with hawthorn scrub.  This diversity of habitats gives rise to a rich species mix. 

Plantlife

Varied habitats on the reserve ensures that there is a succession of plant species throughout the spring and summer. 

In spring the herb-rich grassland is covered with cowslip and early purple orchid which give way to commmon twayblade, betony and knapweed later in the year.

If you search hard you might find the uncommon adder's tongue fern in the grassland.

In the wetter fenland area you can find yellow flag iris, ragged robin, angelica and devil's-bit scabious.

The shade cast by the trees, in the woodland area combined with the wet ground, give ideal conditions for mosses and ferns to flourish.

Male fern, hard fern and narrow buckler fern and a variety of mosses thrive here.

What makes Dubbs Moss so special?

Shaded by the trees, the wet ground provides ideal conditions for mosses and ferns to flourish; male-fern, hard-fern and narrow buckler-fern all thrive.

By contrast, the vibrant colour of yellow iris, valerian, common spotted orchid and devil’s-bit scabious pepper the fen grassland.

Where this rises to dry grassland, early-purple orchid, cowslip, common knapweed and great burnet continue the show.

Keeping it special

In winter we graze the land with Welsh mountain ponies to preserve the range of plants that are a magnet for pollinating insects and we carry out management to maintain the scattered scrub on the eastern side of the nature reserve.

Recent history

Dubbs Moss was purchased by Cumbria Wildlife Trust in 1972.