Calke Park NNR
Calke Park NNR encompasses the ancient deer park of the Calke Abbey estate. The reserve includes rich wood pasture and has concentrations of very large, old, stag-headed oak trees as well as lime and beeches.
County: Derbyshire
Main habitats: Wood Pasture
Area: 79.7 Ha
Site map: Nature on the Map
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Although most NNRs are managed by Natural England, 88 are wholly or partly managed by other bodies approved by Council, under Section 35 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Calke Park is owned and managed by the National Trust.
How to get there
The NNR is approximately 12 km south of Derby and 5 km north of Ashby de la Zouch. Access by car is via the village of Ticknall on the A514.
There is a regular bus service from Derby to Ticknall, with a two km walk from the village to the Park.
The nearest train stations are in Derby and Burton-on-Trent (14 km away).
Accommodation
There is bed & breakfast accommodation in Ticknall and a range of hostelries in Ashby de la Zouch. For more information go to the Peak District tourism website.
Facilities
There are toilet and refreshment facilities at Calke Abbey, the Abbey also having many facilities for disabled visitors. Telephone the National Trust on 01332 863822 for further details and information on admission charges.
Wildlife
Calke Park has an exceptional deadwood invertebrate fauna and this depends on the conservation of its veteran trees and its wood pasture habitat. Wood pasture is a rare type of habitat restricted to ancient parkland and former hunting forests where there has been an unbroken history of this open structured woodland. The habitat provides a link with the ancient forests of Britain and Europe and it is only these sites which now sustain the assemblages of invertebrates associated with ancient forests.
Calke Park is home to some of the oldest trees in Europe. It is the quality and extent of these ancient trees and the insects that live on them - especially those associated with decaying wood - that make the reserve important. Many of the trees are more than 400 years old, some are over 700 years and two of the oaks are thought to be over 1000 years old.
More than 350 species of beetle have been found at Calke, including many that are endangered or nationally scarce. The Park is also important for its fungi, the oak polypore being nationally scarce and only occurring on very old oak trees. A good diversity of woodland birds can be seen, holes in trees proving valuable nesting sites. Calke Park is also an important habitat for bats. At least eight species have been recorded including the Serotine bat, Calke Park being its only Derbyshire location.
