Biodiversity Action Plan

Parkland and Veteran Trees

There are approximately 110 hectares of parkland in the Peak District which can be found predominantly on the Chatsworth Estate and at Lyme Park, plus additional smaller areas and scattered veteran trees across the landscape.

Parkland has great historic, cultural and landscape significance with management often stretching back hundreds of years. It is typically composed of large individual trees in a mosaic of grassland, often grazed by deer or other livestock.

The most important parklands in terms of species diversity are those with large numbers of veteran trees, as these support a wide range of often very rare invertebrates and fungi.

It is hard to define what constitutes a veteran tree, as this varies between species. Usually we mean trees of cultural, landscape and wildlife value because of their age, size or condition.

Species such as birch, rowan, alder and willow can become veteran, with varied wildlife interest when they reach 40-80 years old; whereas oak and sweet chestnut trees age more slowly.

There are also, of course, veteran trees in the wider countryside, individuals in hedgerows, woodlands and churchyards; but we have far less idea of the extent and condition of this resource than on well managed estates such as Chatsworth, which has a long history of sensitive management and is considered to be a site of outstanding interest.

Parkland and veteran trees action plan (310KB)

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust have been surveying the Great Trees of Derbyshire