Killerton estate is a rich tapestry of habitats and a haven for wildlife. Across 2,500 hectares we look after ancient woodland, three rivers, floodplains, meadows and farmland.
We have big ambitions to improve this landscape for wildlife, people and the planet by planting more trees and hedges, improving the state of the rivers and creating better habitat for wildlife. We also want more people to experience what the estate has to offer, so we will be improving access with more pathways and different ways to engage with nature.
Here’s a taster of some of the work we are already doing. Check back regularly for updates. To read the latest version of our Nature Recovery newsletter click, issue 1, issue 2,issue 3, Issue 4.
To Listen to the Landscape Histories for Landscape Futures podcast click here. This is a project between the university of Exeter and the National Trust. This series explores how complex landscapes histories can inform and inspire planning for future landscape change, we will be trying to understand and articulate challenges and opportunities at properties carrying out nature recovery projects.
We've set ourselves a target of planting one million trees by 2030 and we are already well on the way to acheiving that goal.
We planted 6.5 hectares of new woodland in February 2024 with thanks to the English Woodland Creation Offer, and 90 hectares of new woodly habitat during the winter of 2024/25, including 35 hectares of wood pasture, which will allow grazing amongst areas of trees. It's not all new woodland creation, many trees are supporting old woodland and creating hedgerows.
Community Forest – Phase 2
Phase 2 of the Community Forest project at Killerton is now underway, with 37,000 new trees being planted this winter across the estate at Elbury. This next stage builds on the success of Phase 1 and takes the total number of trees planted over the last two years to around 100,000, contributing to a long-term ambition to plant one million trees at Killerton.
Alongside tree planting, improving access and strengthening connections between local communities and the estate is a key part of the project. The project will create over 12 kilometres of new and enhanced permissive paths, helping to link nearby communities more closely to Killerton.
Together, Phase 1 and Phase 2 will help create 150 hectares of new woodland and wood pasture, an area roughly the size of 212 football pitches. These new landscapes are being carefully designed to support wildlife, improve soil and water quality, and provide shade and shelter for grazing animals.
Amelia Greenway, a farmer and tenant at Springwater Farm on the Killerton Estate, said:
“As an organic farmer, we value trees integrated within our farmland. Our native breed cattle nourish themselves on the medicinal benefits the trees can provide, while providing essential habitats for wildlife. We know that trees have helped extend our grazing season for up to 16 weeks of the year, reducing our financial outputs on the farm.”
People and community remain at the heart of the Community Forest project. Local schools, colleges, volunteers and community groups continue to play an active role in planting trees and shaping the future woodland. Children from Cranbrook Primary School were among the first to plant trees during Phase 2, building on the strong relationships formed during the first phase of planting.
The Community Forest project is delivered in partnership with the Plymouth & South Devon Community Forest and supported by Defra’s Trees for Climate programme, bringing together farmers, communities and conservation to create a more resilient landscape for the future.
Community tree planting will continue throughout the winter, with opportunities for local people to get involved and help plant the new woodland. Further updates will be shared as the trees establish, and the new paths and landscapes continue to take shape.
Hedge-laying
A vast 20km of hedgerow has been planted. The team at Killerton also use the traditional rural skill of hedge-laying to ensure the hedges are free from gaps, dense in structure and stock-proof. These then provide great food supplies and habitat for wildlife.
Coppicing
Killerton’s rangers use the traditional forestry technique of coppicing, which essentially means cutting back plants and letting them regrow. This cycle increases woodland biodiversity, because it allows more light to reach the woodland floor and other species to grow. Many of these plants that grow are food sources for butterflies and other insects. These, in turn, provide food for birds, bats and mammals such as the dormouse.
Ranger walks and talks
Throughout the year there will be events and activities for all ages so you can find out more about our work and plans and get involved. All events can be found on our website events page
Wildlife
Monitoring is vital to establish the current state of the environment and to observe changes in the future. With garden, parkland, historic buildings and ancient woodland, the vast estate at Killerton is home to creatures great and small. National Trust staff and volunteers have an active programme of monitoring on estate, especially plants, bats, birds and butterflies. Some of these creatures, such as bats and dormice, need a little extra help being protected than others and that’s where Killerton’s team of rangers and volunteers step in. There are bat boxes and dormice boxes across the estate, which are monitored to see how well these special animals are thriving.
Bats
Bats are a sign of a green and healthy environment so the bats love Killerton as much as the team love the bats. Local consultant ecologist Dr Johanna Rabineau and her team have established several transects and completed numerous building surveys in 2024/25 to increase our knowledge of bat populations across the estate. They are helping us to train volunteers to monitor bats, so we can understand how our habitat creation and restoration is increasing populations. Killerton is home to 13 of the UK's 18 bat species and is particularly important for lesser horseshoes, soprano pipistrelles and brown long eared.
The rangers work with Devon Bat Group, led by ecologist, Jo Rabineau, to undertake bat monitoring across the estate. In addition, a special team of bat volunteers also keep tabs on which species of bat call the woodlands, farmhouses and barns of Killerton home. Ashclyst Forest is the largest woodland on the Killerton estate and the team regularly check more than 60 bat boxes a month in Ashclyst alone.
'Through the team’s monitoring we have so far recorded 13 of the UK’s 17 breeding bat species at Killerton, making the estate a hugely important site for bats in the South West’
There’s a healthy population of dormice at Killerton and the rangers are working hard to ensure that our furry neighbours can thrive. Like bats, dormice are a good indicator of a healthy woodland habitat. There are 100 dormouse nest boxes across the estate, which help the team monitor the resident dormice.
Surveying the boxes
The boxes are surveyed once a month between April and October when the mice are active. We’re lucky to have some lovely hazel coppice stands around the estate, which are great places to look for evidence of dormice. While surveying the boxes, rangers will check the dormice, weigh them, sex them and take photos before returning them to the box, all without waking them.
Improving dormice habitat
Dormice like to be high among the tree branches, rarely coming to the ground, so the team at Killerton ensure that there are connecting branches high up. This means the dormice can move around on their treetop canopies during their nocturnal activities.
The small rodents also prefer ancient woodland and hedgerows – loss of this habitat is partly the cause for their declining numbers. So, here at Killerton, we’re looking after the hedgerows and ancient woodland to protect their home. We also make sure the woodlands and hedgerows all connect, so dormice populations don’t become isolated.
By improving the habitat across the estate and increasing the insect population, this has had a direct effect on the insect and bird life. We're planning 37 hecatres of species rich meadow. We’ve already seen new species ‘move in’, with the brown argus and brown hairstreak butterflies being recorded on the estate for the first time in 20 years. We’ve also seen cirl bunting, one of Britain’s rarest birds, breed in hedges alongside new areas of wood pasture, and breeding barn owl pairs have increased from just one to three. The estate team have also been working with the local community of Broadclyst to help boost and monitor the swift population too.
We're encouraging more Citizen Science monitoring projects with our local communities and we're supporting local environmental and butterfly groups with monitoring equipment for adults and children.
Rivers
We are restoring nature and the natural landscape in the Clyst, Culm and Cranny Brook rivers which flow through the Killerton estate, with a focus on improving habitats for the future. You can find out more here.
We've been adding brash (brash consists of cut tree tops and small-diameter branchwood) damming drainage ditches in Ashclyst forest to create ponds by allowing the water to flow onto natural floodplains. This creates wetlands in woodlands and marshy grasslands. By reintroducing ponds across the estate, we hope to encorage an influx of frogs and birds that feed from them.
Beavers
Beavers are a sign of a healthy river as they create, modify, and maintain habitat and ecosystems. By bringing wood into the water, the wood provides food and shelter for insects which in turn becomes food for other species. Once beavers are settled, water voles may follow. For now we will concentrate on making the environment suitable for any future inhabitants.
The Killerton estate has 15 tenanted farms and the team at Killerton are working in partnership with tenants, whose knowledge and experience of the land is invaluable. We are encouraging and supporting plans for regenerative farming methods and some farm tenants have already started doing this.
Jason and Amelia Greenway, farmers on the Killerton estate said:
'We strive to farm in harmony with nature. Every decision we make is based on what impact it will have on the biodiversity on the farm, our animal’s welfare, and the soil's health. When we restore wetlands, the results are often rapid, and spectacular, so our particular passion is to return water to the surface of our landscape, as ponds, clean rivers, and in floodplain woodlands.'
Working together for nature
We’re aiming to enhance the estate further for nature by restoring and creating additional areas of priority habitat. Thanks to the 'Plant a Tree' project we are planting 28,000 trees and 4.4.km hedges across 9 tenanted farms. The trees will be planted by our ranger team of staff and volunteers, corporate groups, contractors and local community groups.
Opening up access to nature
The team at Killerton are working to ensure that visitors to the estate can access all areas, from multi-use paths that are suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs, to sustainable transport networks to link our communities. We are in talks with the local council to improve sustainable transport links from Cranbrook and the surrounding communities to make it easier for people to visit the Killerton estate.
Bird hides and boardwalks on the estate will be made in order to bring nature and people closer together. Access into Danes Wood has been improved with the removal of steps and a new ramp installed. This not only benefits any wheeled mobility users but also our visitors on horseback using the bridleways.
Adopt a Plot from the National Trust is a small way you can take a big step towards bringing back nature. For a monthly donation, you can help renew Killerton, one of six nature super sites across the country. Killerton has been chosen for our potential to restore nature across whole landscapes. The nature super sites cover woodlands, peatlands, grasslands, rivers and more. By donating, you'll be helping us to restore this special place where nature can quickly recover and thrive. Nature needs space to heal itself, and you can make that space. Adopt a Plot today and you can bring back nature, one plot at a time.
Fi Hailstone, who is leading the project, has been collating more of the UK's genetics of black poplars by liaising with groups from Norfolk, Suffolk, Herefordshire, Dorset, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Killerton's collection is now up to 80 out of the 150 estimated total genetic make up of wild black poplars in the UK.
Cuttings taken by Fi in October from some of the original trees from Richmond, Surrey are being grown on in cells by the National Trust's Plant Conservation Centre. These trees will be going to similar wetland restoration projects as well as some coming back to Killerton to buffer the newly established population along the Culm floodplain. 27 new trees have been planted out there this past winter/spring by the team.
Fi's also been finding new trees in local areas such as on the Clyst and in Somerset. These trees have been sent for genetic testing to Forest Research, to determine if they represent new genetics in the UK's population of if they are clones of already known trees.
Killerton is creating a ‘living library’ of trees to help save Britain’s rarest and most threatened native species, the black poplar.
Building on existing efforts up and down the country and with thanks to support from HSBC UK, Killerton is forming a living gene bank of black poplar to help save the declining species. Once as common as oak and beech, drainage of land and demand for faster and straighter growing non-native timber trees has contributed to the gradual decline of the species, leaving the population so fragmented that black poplar has effectively died out in the wild.
Out of an estimated 7,000 black poplar trees left growing wild in Britain, only around 150 of those that have been tested are genetically unique. Many are also male, as historically they were favoured aesthetically over the female trees which produce large amounts of white fluffy seed in spring. Unable to reproduce alone, an urgent effort is needed to form a breeding population of male and female trees to maximise the gene pool and make the species resilient again.
Working in partnership with Forest Research and other community groups to locate and collect a diverse selection of cuttings, rangers at Killerton have now planted a total of 80 distinct clones at the Devon site, making it the most diverse population of the species in the country.
Fi Hailstone, ecologist at Killerton said: “We want to establish a naturally reproducing population of black poplar on the stretch of river we have relinked to the floodplain, the tree’s favoured habitat".
“Black poplars need male and female trees within 200m of each other to pollinate each other. With numbers in huge decline this is not something likely to happen in the wild which is why we are stepping in to create a new breeding population”.
The Community Forest project at Killerton has engaged local schools, colleges, and community groups in planting trees across three locations: Columbjohn, Elbury, and Beare Farms. Over the course of the project, trees have been planted by over 750 members of the public and local community groups, including The Royal College of GPs, Exeter College, The Duchy School, Exeter City Community Trust, Devon Carers, University of Exeter, Bradnich Scouts, Met Office, Cornerstone Academy – Broadclyst and Westclyst Schools, Exeter Age UK, HIVE (home school group) and Cranbrook Education Campus.
One of the project's highlights includes the story of Josh Mills, a 10-year-old from Cranbrook Education Campus, who planted trees on land worked by his grandfather and great-grandfather at Elbury Farm.
Josh and his peers in years 3-6 at Cranbrook Education Campus walked to this site to plant 985 trees across 3 weeks – representing one tree per pupil at the school.
More than 120 young people from Exeter College visited Columbjohn Farm as part of a student wellbeing initiative, planting native saplings and learning about the importance of trees in storing carbon.
Lucy Welch, an A Level Environmental Science student, said:
"The best part about tree planting with friends was making memories together for a good cause, especially when in a few years we can come back and see the difference when all the trees have grown, knowing that we helped to make a difference.”
The tree species planted, including sycamore, elm, and oak, were selected for being native to the area, with the intention for them to become the veteran trees of the future, creating new habitats for native flora and fauna.
This year, Exeter college students will continue to work with Killerton to design artwork, build wildlife boxes and monitor the establishment of trees and species populations over time.
The initiative includes the addition of 6.9km of permissive paths and improvements to existing paths, enhancing public access to the new woodlands and the wider parkland.
Stand tall! We are proud to tell you that a recent survey confirms historic Killerton parkland as nationally important for nature conservation and best in the west.
Killerton is now recognised as nationally significant site for its old trees and insect life. The estate is home to 1500 veteran and ancient trees, with 200 classified as ancient. These trees provide crucial habitats for a diverse range of wildlife, including bats, mice, toads, birds, insects, fungi, and lichens.
Dr. Keith Alexander, one of the UK’s leading entomologists, conducted the survey and identified over 140 species of wood-decay invertebrates, including 72 species of saproxylic beetles and 68 species of two-winged flies.
He said, “This is a remarkable total and firmly places Killerton as the most important site in the Southwest for its saproxylic population. I have wanted to survey Killerton for many years and was coaxed out of retirement at the opportunity to do so. It’s been very rewarding to confirm what I have long suspected about the importance of the trees there”.
Along with our ongoing veteran tree survey work, this research supports our understanding of how we can look after and safeguard these wonderful trees and deadwood habitats into the future.
The Dairy, nestled in the garden at Killerton, is now an exhibition space. A Climate for Change will be on display in the space and open every day. Ever wondered how Killerton's teams are responding to a changing climate? Take a seat and watch the 'before and after' of the floodplains restoration, learn about how a changing climate affects animals on the estate, and discover what you can do to help. This will become a permament feature on the visitor route, and we look forward to seeing you there.
The timber for these benches has all come from the Killerton estate, often being sourced from Ashcylst Forest. It's then been stored at our Ranger’s Yard, before being milled here on the estate. This means that all our benches have a very low carbon impact. The timber we have used for the benches has been a lovely mixture of sweet chestnut and oak-wood that is very hardy, strong and long lasting. Hopefully these benches will be about the parkland for a long time.
In total it takes approximately 2/3 weeks to complete each bench as once the timber is selected and cut down to size they are lovingly sanded, before receiving three generous coatings of linseed and white spirit. They are then moved to site before being manoeuvred into place by hand. With the benches’ legs being longer than you think, each being 120cm long, it means they set into the ground without the need of additional setting agents such as Postcrete. Therefore, when you are out in the parkland and come across one of our new benches, please take the time to admire the hard work that goes into creating these and while you’re at it, take a seat and enjoy the view.
Picture shows some of the Tuesday volunteers with a newly installed bench.
An orchard provides a valuable habitat for a variety of wildlife, it’s a mosaic habitat, and has elements of meadow, pasture, and woodland. As the trees age they will provide nests and roosts in their cracks for bats and birds. Pollinators will love the blossom in spring. Fieldfares and thrushes will enjoy the apples as will hedgehogs and badgers. Leaving piles of deadwood, beetles and other invertebrates will thrive. This new orchard has been planted in the field immediately east of the Budlake Bus stop on the B3181.
It’s always exciting to see new life on the estate and this little furry fellow, Psychoda mycophila Vaillant 1989, has been recorded for the first time in the British Isles. This moth species has been spotted at Ashclyst Forest and nearby National Trust property, Knightshayes.
We have partnered with Wylder to do a pilot study to explore how site-specific challenges, with prompts to notice nature in small, mindful ways, can increase nature connection and improve wellbeing.
The challenges are inspired by the 5 Pathways to Nature Connection model, developed by the Nature Connectedness Research Group at the University of Derby in partnership with the National Trust.
Anna, our Nature Engagement Officer, and the Killerton ranger team, have worked together with Wylder to create the Ashclyst Challenge signs - these are up in Ashclyst Forest, there to help people to be inspired, connect to nature and feel better within themselves.
If you take part, we’d love to hear your feedback on the Ashclyst challenge!
To learn more visit the Wylder Ashclyst Challenge and download the Wylder App to get started.
The year started with a lot of tree planting. To date, the Ranger team alongside local corporate and community groups, planted over 11,500 trees. No small feat given the weather and ground conditions - it was rather muddy to say the least!
The new woodland, “Ashclyst Copse”, links Ashclyst Forest with the River Clyst floodplain. Planted with a mixture of native broadleaf trees and shrubs with approximately 20% of open space; Ashclyst Copse should become a thriving woody corridor over the coming years. Alongside the woodland, Ranger Lucy, designed an area of wood-pasture. This is typically made up of 33% grass, 33% scrub and 33% trees, and is a great habitat to create to obtain more trees in the landscape whilst maintaining an element of food production.
Each tree was planted, staked, guarded and mulch-matted. Given our ambition is to plant 1,000,000 trees by 2030, we are moving away from using plastic in tree planting for woodland and wood-pasture creation. The mulch-mats are made of jute and held down by bamboo pegs, whilst the tree guards are biodegradable spirals made out of starch.
Our ranger team were working hard last week in the carpark at Danes Wood. They have made this superb ramp which now means there's a level, accessible entrance into the woods for wheelchair users, pushchairs, our furry friends, and even those on horseback. Well done team!
Killerton’s estate is an important wildlife haven, but is threatened by climate change. Thanks to the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, projects have been completed to protect its grounds.
Learn more about Killerton's ‘Three Rivers’ Landscape Recovery Project, where we're aiming to restore nature and the natural landscape, with a focus on improving habitats for the future.
Explore the forests, orchards and parkland on the vast estate at Killerton and discover the creatures that live here, from Highland cows and dormice to bats and butterflies.
