Rilla Mill County Wildlife Site is situated approximately 0.25 km to the south of the village of Bathpool. The site flanks the River Lynher as it flows south towards Rilla Mill village and consists of woodland habitats including broadleaved semi-natural woodland and conifer plantations.
The area of woodland is known as Stara Community Woodland. It includes Treovis Wood, an area listed as “ancient replanted woodland” on Cornwall’s Ancient Woodland Inventory. This indicates that woodland has been continuously present here since at least 1600AD, although it would have been cleared and replanted at some stage.
The habitats in this woodland include the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) Habitat Upland Oak Woodland (in Treovis Wood) and Open Water. Other habitats on site include conifer plantation, other areas of broadleaved woodland and recently felled coniferous plantation replanted with broadleaves.
The area supports a range of wildlife including two BAP species noted during the survey, these were bullfinch and oil beetle. There is also suitable habitat for a number of her BAP species for which past records were identified during a desk study in 2008 including otter, dormouse, brown long-eared and Daubenton’s bats, lesser spotted woodpecker, common lizard and a beard lichen.

Hazel Dormice are monitored throughout the woods for the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme by licensed volunteer monitors.

Stara Community Woodland – Wildlife Survey

Butterfly Survey Report 2008

Wildlife queries, reports & photos to:  wildlife@starawoods.co.uk