Conservation Matters at Muncaster Castle

Conservation Matters

Via the Hawk and Owl Centre and also through the wider Estate’s management program, Muncaster is active in conservation locally, nationally and internationally and works to promote awareness of environmental issues with visitors and the local community.

The Hawk & Owl Centre is run in association with the Hawk Conservancy Trust and through this partnership we are pleased to support the Trust’s important work in promoting awareness of conservation issues worldwide and actively conserving rare and threatened species.

Within the Castle gardens we provide opportunities to the public to come close to beautiful and endangered birds and to better understand their contribution to the balance of our ecocultures and the threats which they face to survive. We’re particularly interested in vulture conservation and you can find out more at the centre and our displays as well as on our All About Vultures page.

A natural environment

We provide a natural environment with varied habitats covering wild woodland, wildflower meadows and unmown grassland, ponds and streams supporting a wide range of native wildlife as well as native and exotic plant species, many now rare in their original homes. Visitors are encouraged to explore the extensive grounds and to enjoy their diversity. We welcome visits by schools and youth groups wishing to use our resources to work towards national curricular links.

Gardens & Wider Estate

The gardens and the wider Estate are managed sustainably and efforts are ongoing to clear and limit invasive species and to plant and replant to promote biodiversity and preserve habitat. The Estate includes a number of SSSIs as well as important habitats for rare plants and animals.

Red Squirrels

Amongst other initiatives, the Estate and its volunteers work actively with other groups to support the local red squirrel population which, though famously shy, can occasionally be spotted in the gardens and in the local area.

Heard about Twiggy, the orphaned roe deer fawn?

A totally unexpected conservation project taken on by Iona and Peter Frost Pennington!

How exciting is this? Following her having been spotted with a fawn during the winter, here’s Twiggy our orphan roe deer with apparently TWO fawns, a hind and a buck, grazing in Muncaster’s gardens. How fantastic, three years on from the tragedy of her mother’s death in a road accident and her birth by Caesarian section, plus all the trauma faced by Peter and Iona Frost Pennington of trying to raise a wild creature without domesticating her. Evidently they did a great job and we’re delighted to see that despite being hand-raised by humans, she’s living independently, found a wild mate and is raising her own kids on the Muncaster estate.

Read Twiggy's Story