Flora & fauna

‘In a world of increasing ecological fragility, there has been no more important moment to focus on the health of nature and what it means to us as human beings, and how we relate to it.’ – Lord Edward Manners.

Bats

Over the summer months one only has to look up in the sky at Haddon to see that Haddon’s Medieval parkland is teeming with bats.

The Hall itself is classified as a bat roost, with many a bat snuggled behind a tapestry. Encouragingly our most recent parkland bat survey in 2019 credited the park with being of ‘High’ suitability for a bat habitat. The parkland’s mosaic of grassland, mature broad-leaved woodland and areas of running water makes it ideal as a foraging and commuting habitat for a range of different species groups including Myotis, Plectus, Nyctalus and Pipistrellus. The River Wye is also particularly relevant to the Daubenton’s bat, a species which typically forages over open water and gleans insects from the water’s surface.

Another feature that makes Haddon’s Medieval Park of particular benefit to bats, is that the park sits within the broader Haddon estate which contains woodland, river corridors and hedgerows along field boundaries.

We are delighted that the Medieval park can provide such an appropriate home to these adorable protected species but we also love watching them fly by night over the crenellations of the Hall.