Mushrooms on Tree

The mature woodlands are predominantly oak, ash and chestnut, with an understorey of hazel, holly and elder, providing nesting sites for a variety of birds including buzzards and tawny owls. In springtime there are wild orchids and carpets of bluebells. The stream and ponds provide habitats for moorhens, mallards, geese, pied and grey wagtails, kingfishers, herons, frogs, toads, newts, dragonflies and fish.


Further downstream there are boggy areas which are ablaze with yellow flag irises in the springtime; a pair of ravens can regularly be seen patrolling the valley and merlins have been spotted flying across. Around the buildings housemartins and swallows nest and woodpeckers visit the lawns. In fact, more than seventy species of birds can be observed without even leaving the valley! A complete checklist is available to visitors.