Winter wildlife

Winter is often thought of as a quiet time for wildlife, as creatures hibernate or migrate for the winter but there's still plenty of wildlife to spot if you know where to look.

In their burrows at Croome, badgers are sleeping, squirrels snoozing and hedgehogs are taking a nap, however, there are still plenty of animals scurrying about, keeping busy and warm.

The bird hide, secreted in a quiet spot in the Church Shrubbery, is a great way for families to spend a while watching the birds flocking onto the feeding stations.  Winter can be a particularly difficult period for birds so a feast of mixed seeds, peanuts and niger seeds are always greeted with a flurry of feathers.

During the winter months staff give them an extra special treat of cardoon seed heads from the garden.

From the hide visitors are regularly greeted with colourful woodpeckers, pheasants, nuthatches and treecreepers, as well as different types of finch and tits. 

As you wander through the parkland you might just come across a scampering squirrel, or see signs of rabbits - even if they are hiding away in the warmth of their burrows on these chilly winter days.

A walk through the acres of parkland reveals larger birds like kestrel, buzzard, cormorant and heron, as well as winter migrants such as fieldfares and redwings – look out for the flash of a kingfisher, often glimpsed near the Island Pavilion Bridge.  

Enjoy a few moments sitting in the Grotto near the island at the lakeside.  An ideal spot to watch the many wildfowl with swans, Canada geese, ducks, moorhens and coots.

As dusk approaches the elusive deer sometimes creep out from the hedgerows to venture into the parkland.