Getting there
Leave Corris Craft Centre on foot, crossing the road, turning left towards Dolgellau and walking for about 350 metres until a lay-by is reached. The footpath starts from this lay-by.

The reserve
The reserve contains mixed broadleaf woodland, dominated by oak and ash with an understorey of holly and hazel. The steep, wooded slopes, high rainfall and the Afon Deri in the valley bottom all help trap moist air in the valley which allows mosses and ferns to thrive.

As well as the common hart's tongue fern, which grows profusely, there are rarer ferns such as lemon -scented fern, lady fern, hard fern and polypody.

The fast flowing stream in the valley bottom supports brown trout, sea trout, grey wagtail and dippers, all of which indicate that the water is clean and so contains plenty of invertebrates like stonefly and cadisfly larvae for them to eat.

In the drier parts of the reserve, where common dog violets grow beneath bracken, the microclimate is ideal for the caterpillars of small, pearl-bordered fritillary. If you are lucky, you may see the adults of these rare butterflies in late May and early June.

Hanging oak woodland is the favoured habitat of the migratory pied and spotted fly catchers. These birds arrive here in spring from Africa. Spotted fly catchers breed on the reserve. Other woodland birds include great spotted woodpeckers, tree creepers and chiff chaff.

The mossy slopes covered in low growing ferns are the favoured hunting ground of common and pygmy shrews. The pygmy shrew is Britain's smallest mammal, weighing only six grammes and measuring only six centimetres long. It has a very high metabolism so it needs to eat its body weight in worms, spiders or woodlice every day and can starve in only two hours.