A blog by Suzanne Howard, Haddon Hall
The Field Studies Council provides natural history training across the country, and to help access unique and biodiverse habitats, we partner up with iconic locations – one of which is Haddon Hall, located in the heart of the Peak District. In this blog, Suzanne Howard (Events Coordinator and Photographer) at Haddon Hall, touches on the history of the park and the wonderful wildlife you might see there.
Haddon Medieval Park is a very special place, a sanctuary of calm and a haven for wildlife in the Peak District National Park. At its heart stands the magnificent Haddon Hall, a fortified manor house built in the 12th Century and one of the few houses in England to have remained in one family’s ownership for its entire existence.
The parkland that surrounds the hall was established as a deer park in 1330, used not only for sport but also as a source of food, grazing and wood for fuel and construction. When many other deer parks disappeared from the English landscape in the aftermath of the Civil War, Haddon Medieval Park survived. We know that large parts of the parkland have never been disturbed by development, landscaping, building or agriculture, allowing a continuity of habitat that has endured for centuries.
Haddon Medieval Park offers a diverse mosaic of ecological habitats in a relatively small area (187 hectares), including ancient wood pasture, woodland, river bank and river, water meadows, hedgerows, marsh, ancient orchards, wetlands (swamp) and former farmland.
In 2009, the current owners of Haddon Hall, Lord and Lady Edward Manners, began a programme of nature restoration within the parkland. They adopted a policy of organic management, improved wildlife corridors, and planted hundreds of native broadleaf trees to replace those lost to disease and weather through the centuries. A small herd of rare breed English Longhorn cattle was brought in to manage the parkland in an entirely natural way; they roam freely through the area, dispersing seed, creating new habitats and improving the soil as they go.
The undisturbed nature of the parkland, along with our careful management, has meant that Haddon Medieval Park is a haven for wildlife and home to many endangered species.
With receipt of recent bird survey results, we now have 83 different species of birds recorded in the Medieval Park, including 16 on the Red List and 29 on the Amber List. It is also home to fallow, red and roe deer, as well as hares, stoats, weasels, rabbits, mice and badgers. Haddon is home to many species of bats, including Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Long Eared, Noctule and Daubenton’s. The 12th Century chapel is a lively maternity roost, with around 400 bats recorded living in the rafters.
The little species are hugely important too, allowing the larger animals to thrive. Regular surveys of butterflies have recorded 29 different species here, including 4 on the BAP Priority Species list: White Letter Hairstreak, Dingy Skipper, Small Heath and Wall Brown. We also have 23 different species of bees, and hundreds of different species of other insects, including many rare types found nowhere else in the region.
The Derbyshire River Wye which runs through the Medieval Park, is one of the top five cleanest rivers in the country and is nationally recognised as the UK’s benchmark river for invertebrate life. It supports a huge diversity of wildlife, including otters, water voles and the UK’s only population of wild rainbow trout, as well as many different kinds of water birds and insects. Our ponds are home to rare Great Crested Newts.
It is hugely important to us that we share the beauty and natural abundance of Haddon Medieval Park with others, but we need to balance that access with careful protection of the fragile ecosystems and wildlife. As such, we allow admission to the park only on guided events, including specialist wildlife walks and parkland tours.
In 2023, we were delighted to begin hosting a number of Field Studies Council biodiversity courses here, with topics including Great Crested Newts; Identifying Grasses; Habitat Surveys; Terrestrial Invertebrates; Dragonflies & Damselflies; Wildflowers; and Practical Fungi Field Skills. We have continued to work with the Field Studies Council every year since, with a greater range of courses offered and more people using Haddon Medieval Park to further their knowledge of the environment. We know that participants enjoy the courses at Haddon Medieval Park and the chance to learn new skills in such a special setting.
Part of our mission in the organic regeneration of Haddon Medieval Park was ‘To create a place of education, well-being, and scientific study for the benefit of all generations.’ It gives us great satisfaction to collaborate with such a highly-respected organisation and to know that we are playing our part to train the ecologists of tomorrow.
Field Studies Council courses coming up
View all Field Studies Council courses at Haddon Hall
- Grasses: Identifying Common Species, 14th June 2025
- Introduction to Lesser-known Soil Invertebrates, 10th August 2025
- Habitat Surveying: Using UKHab, 13th September 2025
- Autumn Fungi: An Introduction, 27th September 2025
Find out more about Haddon Hall by visiting their website
You can also catch the Springwatch team at Haddon Hall Medieval Park throughout their 2025 series. Catch up here.
