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You are here: Home > Castlewellan Historic Demesne > Wildlife in Castlewellan Historic Demesne
Castlewellan Forest Park is more than just a fantastic outdoor recreational space. It is home to some very special residents. If you keep a keen eye out, you may spot a red squirrel scampering up a tree or hear a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming in the surrounding woodland.
Covering 460 hectares (4.6km2), the forest park lies within Mourne and Slieve Croob Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the recently designated Mourne Gullion Strangford Geopark. Biodiverse rich habitats found in the park include the lake itself, which, due to the variety of aquatic flora and fauna that rely on it its unpolluted water is an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI).
Celebrating and protecting our biodiveristy is at the heart of Castlewellan Forest Park, if you are interested in taking an active role in helping us protect our wildlife or would like information on our environmental education programme please contact us.
What to look for
Greater Spotted Woodpecker / Dendrocopus major / Morchnagaire brac
A coloniser to Eastern Ireland since 2005, the Great Spotted Woodpecker is a medium sized bird and a welcome resident in Castlewellan Forest Park. The loud drumming that is heard during the spring could be individuals making a nest by boring a hole into a tree, feeding on invertabrates on the bark, males declaring their territory or even feeding on tree sap.
Castlewellan’s woodpeckers are most often found in the woodland winding up to the top of Slievenaslat; a good incentive to make your way to the top!
Bluebells / Hyacinthoides non-scripta / An Cloigín Gorm
Whilst going for a woodland walk during mid-spring, it is a true joy to be greeted by a carpet of bluebells. The striking colour and delicate scent is familiar to many of us, but although reasonably widespread on the island of Ireland, the population here is significant as its global range has decreased rapidly in recent years. This is due to habitat loss and cross-breeding with the Spanish Bluebell, which was introduced for commercial horticulture.
Bluebells provide a particularly valuable early source of nectar for pollinators but are poisonous to humans. They favour broadleaf woodland and take advantage of the dabbled light in Spring before the tree leaves form a dense canopy overhead.
At Castlewellan areas that are favourable to bluebells are being opened through targeted scrub removal. Because of this there has been a marked increase in the population, particularly to the North side of the lake.
Smooth Newt / Lissotriton vulgaris / Niút
This amazing amphibian is the only newt found in Ireland. They hibernate, spending the winter months in old log piles that are unlikey to dry out and head to water sources in Spring to breed. Unlike common frogs, which lay masses of jellylike spawn, the female newt will wrap individual eggs in aquatic leaves for protection. Once hatched the larval newts look very similar to frog tadpoles but have feathery gills either side of their head which are absorbed during metamorphosis. It can take up to three years for a newt to reach maturity.
At Castlewellan Forest Park Smooth Newts have been recorded in the Cypress Pond and within the Annesley Walled Garden. When not seen in the water they have been found hiding under plantpots in the glasshouses!
Butterflies and Moths / Lepidoptera / Féileacán agus Leamhan
Butterflies and Moths, fall into a group of animals known as Lepidoptera which, in Greek, means “Scaled winged”. Globaly Lepidoptera are an incredibly important group of organisms representing approximately 10% of all known living organisms on the planet.
The wide range of habitats found within Castlewellan Forest Park favours a number of butterfly species including commonly recognised species such as Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell but also sightings of Holly Blue and Silver-washed Fritillary have been recorded.
The park’s ranger team regularly set a moth trap which catches moths without harming them. It is fasinating to see what species have been pollinating the plants within the walled garden at night, including a very fluffy male Pale Tussock (Calliteara pudibunda). Contrary to popular belief moths don’t just come out at night and there have been regular sightings of day flying moths such as Hummingbird Hawkmoths.
From mid-July to the start of August you can take part in something wonderful, Butterfly Conservation’s Big Buttefly Count! Head to Big Butterfly Count (butterfly-conservation.org) for more information. As the world’s biggest survey of butterflies, the information gained helps to assess the health of the wider environment.
Bats / Chiroptera / Ialtóg
Not just for Halloween! There are eight species of bats found in Northern Ireland and all of them have been recorded in Castlewellan Forest Park.
Bats are mammals, which means they are warm blooded, have fur and carry live young that suckle milk from their mother. However, unlike other mammals they have the power of true flight. Their wings are actually hands with skin stretched between elongated fingers. All the bats found in Ireland are insectivores, they eat only insects. As bats are nocturnal they use echolocation to find their way around at night. They also hibernate during the winter and become active again in the Spring where they feed on emerging insects. Around early summer the pregant females bring up their young in maternity roosts.
Castlewellan is a great habitat for bats as they roost in both the old buildings and trees found around the park. The lake and other waterbodies in the Park also provide an excellent source of insects for them to feed on. Not all eight species roost at Castlewellan, some just come and enjoy the buffet that the lake provides, or use the site as a communiting route.
Fungi / Fungais
Neither plant nor animal, fungi are in a kingdom of their own; but as they can’t make their own food, like plants do, they are more closely related to animals. The majority of the fungi is found in the soil, this is called mycelium and is a thread-like network which can spread for miles underground. Fungi form mycorrhizal associations with hosts (links between the fungi and plant roots to share nutrients). What we see above ground is the fruiting bodies of the fungus. In the right conditions toadstools and mushrooms break through the surface of the soil and release spores which allow the fungi to reproduce.
In Castlewellan there are grassland related species present. These fungi, known as Waxcaps are particularly sensitive to nutrient enrichment from agricultural practises. This also includes any disturbance of the soil through tillage. Once disturbance has occurred it can take many years for the fungi to recover, because of this there are very few areas left rich in Waxcap diversity. Within Castlewellan Forest Park the area of parkland South of the Castle has been described as at least Nationally Important, if not Internationally important for grassland fungi. Waxcap fungi produce brightly coloured mushrooms with wide spacing gills and a waxy/slippery cap.
European Otter / Lutra lutra / Madra uisce
As elusive as they are cute the European Otter has made a home in Castlewellan Forest Park. Active all year round, the best time to spot them is early morning as they play and hunt in the lake. If you are not an early enough riser to spot them you can find evidence of their exploits through the presence of “slides” into the lake and spraint (droppings), which they leave in prominent places as a mark of territory or scent message to help them find mates.
Otters are considered apex predators as their diet consists of fish, crustaceans and amphibians. They require clean water systems and plenty of vegetation and terrestrial habitat to create their holts (underground burrows) where they raise their young.
Red Squirrels / Sciurus vulgaris / Iora rua
There is nothing quite so charming as watching a red squirrel scampering up a tree or caching its nuts for winter. Red squirrels are small bushy-tailed rodents that spend most of their time in trees, only coming down to the ground to forage for nuts and seeds. As omnivores they have a varied diet and will also eat insects. Contrary to popular belief red squirrels don’t hibernate, instead they rely on the food they have gathered during the summer and autumn to sustain them during times when natural food sources are scarce.
Red squirrels were once a common sight throughout the Island of Ireland but sadly the population has declined dramatically. Like most of Ireland’s wildlife, habitat loss has had an impact, but it was the introduction of grey squirrels in 1911 that made the biggest impact. The larger and more dominant grey squirrel, which is native to North America outcompetes the red squirrel for food and habitat. The grey squirrel is also a host of squirrel pox, which although causes them no harm, is fatal to red squirrels.
In recent years, throughout County Down, there has been conservation efforts to control the grey squirrel population and supplement food for red squirrels through feeding in winter months. There have also been links to the growing Pine Martin (Martes martes) population, which preys on grey squirrels, who, as a non-native species haven’t adapted to live alongside them. Thankfully numbers of red squirrels are on the increase, but the conservation efforts need to be maintained. At Castlewellan there is a healthy population of red squirrels, and they are particularly fond of scampering up and down the Giant Redwood trees in the Walled Garden.
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