Discover the woodland estate at Quarry Bank

Dog walker on the woodland estate at Quarry Bank in Autumn

Head out on a crisp woodland walk this autumn and discover Quarry Bank’s estate at its very best. Listen to the rustle of fallen leaves as you take in the beauty of nature’s changing colours – and don’t forget your camera!

The woodlands in autumn

Top 3 autumn walks

Grab a coat, pull on your walking boots and get ready to stretch your legs! Enjoy the best of Quarry Bank in autumn and choose from three walking routes – or come back and complete all three. Stroll along the river and climb up through the woodland valley to see historic bridges, amazing trees and dramatic cliffs and caves.

Nature's greatest show

Nature puts on its greatest show in autumn, painting the woodland landscape in hues of fiery red, golden yellow and warm copper tones. Over in Chapel Woods, beech trees are one of the earliest trees to turn, followed by sycamores, oaks and ash trees. Search for fallen conkers from the horse chestnut trees and look out for fungi making an appearance after wet weather.

Autumn wildlife

As the days shorten and temperatures drop, many animals opt to hibernate or migrate. See if you can spot migrating birds including fieldfare and redwings. You might also spot herons and buzzards, tree creepers and nuthatch climbing up and down the trees. And if you look up through the tree tops you might even catch a glimpse of large flocks of geese and swans migrating together in the sky. Salmon and Sea Trout also start to migrate upriver in autumn so keep an eye out for them jumping at the weir.

" Autumn in the woodlands is a bustling time. Conkers drop from the horse chestnut trees, wildlife stock their larders ready for hibernation, fungi emerges after wet weather, and birds migrate overhead or join us from as far away as Russia and Iceland."

The ranger team at work on the Quarry Bank estate

Ranger diaries: Autumn

Autumn keeps the ranger team busy with a wide range of conservation tasks like tree planting and felling, re-seeding, grass cutting and repairing footpaths. The rangers also survey and monitor a lot of the wildlife on the estate to give us an indication of how healthy Quarry Bank is. And last year, Quarry Bank’s ranger team started work planting 13,000 trees!

Countryside care

Please stay on the paths to reduce the erosion of banks and damage to plants and supervise children, especially around the river. If you're enjoying a picnic with us then please remember to take your litter home. Please keep dogs on a lead where advised, particularly through Styal village and if entering the garden.

" Among the numerous private parks, gardens, and ornamental grounds, belonging to the gentry of this district, which are periodically thrown open for the gratification of the public, few are so beautiful, or so much frequented at this period of the year, as those of Mr Greg, at Styal, where the beauties of nature abound in profuseness, and the skill of the scientific gardener has been lavished with marvellous success."