Wildlife

Visit Hawkstone Park Follies for the chance to see a host of wildlife in a stunning setting.

A peregrine falcon rosting on a post at Hawkstone Park Follies

Birds

A bird watchers paradise, with over 100 species recorded at the Follies. The native woodland thick with oak, beech and silver birch provide homes to many smaller birds with Treecreepers, Nuthatches, Jays and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers a plenty. The towering sandstone cliffs help provide a variety of nesting sites, including one for our resident Peregrine Falcons. The open grassy spaces of the neighbouring Golf Course and the Grand Valley help provide food for the Green Wood Peckers, Mistle Thrush and Pied Flycatcher. Breeding buzzards can also be spotted soaring in the thermals above Grotto Hill in the spring.

A wood wasp resting on a spring flower is one of many invertebrates, reptiles & amphibians you will see at Hawkstone Park Follies

Invertebrates, Reptiles & Amphibians

The range of habitats makes The Follies an ideal home for a wide variety of invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians, but as of yet a full survey has not been completed. From staff sightings and record keeping we know about at least 35 species of invertebrate, 2 reptiles and 3 amphibians, but know there are likely to be many more.

Badgers foraging the ground for food are amongst the mammals that make up the varied wildlife of The Follies woodlands

Mammals

A number of bat species call The Follies woodlands their home, along with stoats, badgers, foxes and grey squirrels. Rabbits are frequent, although the local population of Buzzard’s keep numbers low. A delight to see is the Brown Hare, which is often spotted by our Warden’s when doing their morning rounds.

HISTORY ARBORETUM FOLLIES

We need you!

To help protect important habitat and allow wildlife to thrive, we need to know what is here at The Follies

Large scale surveys can help but often show a small moment in time.

Your photos could help us! If you have taken photos of any of the wildlife, from birds, insects, fungi, mammals or plants, we would love to add them to our archive. Just email them to follies@hawkstone.co.uk with the date they were taken, and a rough location on the Park.