Wild Roseland

David Hall for Wild Roseland

The landscape around the Pink Hotel and up the Melinsey valley is a rich habitat for many small mammals, plants, trees, birds, reptiles and invertebrates. Some of these are rare, endangered or Biodiversity Action Plan species.

10 species of bat have been recorded, including long-eared bats and the rarer Barbastelle, Brandt's and Nathusius Pipistrelle.

Otters have been recorded in the Melinsey stream.

The Duke of Burgundy butterfly, a severely threatened species requiring a very special habitat, has also been recorded.

Chough (a schedule 1 species) have been found nesting on the Roseland and feeding on the Pendower cliff face.

Shoredock is acknowledged as being known to exist at the cliff base below Rocky Lane. It is a world-wide scarce species and its last remaining, yet still rapidly declining stronghold in Europe is here in the Southwest. It depends on fresh water oozing from the base of the cliff.

Gerrans Bay is a Special Protection Area, specifically for the wintering Great Northern Divers, Black-throated Divers and Slavonian Grebes. There are established criteria, set by Natural England, to ensure their protection from disturbance, including extraneous noise.

The peace and tranquillity of Pendower and the Melinsey Valley ensure that all these species have the best chance possible to survive and thrive.