The woods are easily accessible with parking next to the gate at the main entrance in the Millpool car park in West Looe. Visitors with disabilities can enjoy a short flat stroll to the riverside.
For the more energetic, there is a choice of short, medium, and long trails to follow. All trails include steps and steep slopes.
Kilminorth Woods Local Nature Reserve is open to the public all year round.
Music
The sound of bird song: As heard on my YouTube area: http://uk.youtube.com/KilminorthWoods
About me: I am an ancient woodland, near Looe in Cornwall. Mostly defined as ancient semi-natural woodland, the area has been wooded since at least 1600 AD.
The woods contain part of a linear Ancient Monument known as the Giant's Hedge, which can be traced between Looe and Lerryn, some 15 miles to the west. Kilminorth Woods is within an area designated as being a Special Area of Great Landscape Value.
It has also been declared a Local Nature Reserve because it is the largest area of western oak woodland in this part of the region and is typical of the valley side woodlands that form the familiar wooded backdrop to the south coast of Cornwall.
A comprehensive and varied network of paths and tracks enable visitors to explore the woods and the river banks with a great deal of freedom. and simple maps at the main entrances to the woodland offer a choice of trails, graded for difficulty and distance.
Many guidebooks detail the walks, and it is a good way to begin or end an exploration of the West Looe Valley, either on foot or by bicycle. The main track is a permissive bridleway and is popular with local horseriders.
The woodland is most dense and damp at the foot of the slope.
The vegetation consists of more acid loving plants. There are mosses, ferns and lichens, for which the woods are renowned, on the shady banks and rocky cliffs. Some of the oldest trees are found next to the river, particularly notable near Watergate.
Glimpses of the river and the opposite banks also make it possible to see the variety and number of birds on the river, including swans, heron, kingfishers and little egrets, as well as a number of waders and gulls, and even divers such as the cormorant are frequently seen at high tide.
Who I'd like to meet: For naturalists and bird watchers, there are opportunities to see wildlife, and the woods offer shelter and a largely undisturbed habitat to many different species and plants.
The site slopes quite steeply down to the river's edge and offers a wide variety of habitats within a small area.
Ongoing coppice management in the woodland provides opportunities for insects and small mammals to feed in the relative warmth of sunny clearings. The clearings provide the only places where one can see butterflies within the woods. Peregrines and buzzards can sometimes be seen circling the recently coppiced areas in search of prey.
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