Countryside - conservation

Nature Reserve.  This area of the park is closed to visiors, allowing ground-nesting birds to raise their young without disturbance. This area was chosen as the nature reserve because of the exposed mud on the foreshore, which the area encompasses.

This is vital feeding ground for many birds, and is home to the county rare plant, mudwort. This habitat represents a significant proportion of the bio-diversity that can be found on Daventry Country Park.

This area is popular with bird watchers and those with a keen interest in wildlife. In the long term, we plan to create phragmities reed beds on the foreshore, which will increase the bio-diversity and the visual amenity of Daventry Country Park.

Bird Hide.  Our bird hide is situated opposite a bird feeding area, which is frequented by a great variety of bird species. This hide is perfect for young bird watchers.

Plans are being made to build a new bird hide, situated at the old Carvel Hide site. This hide will be fire proof and virtually vandal proof.

Wild Flower Meadows.  These meadows are kept in the right conditions to preserve the fauna and flora they support. The rare breed sheep remove invasive weeds and their light footed nature preserve many wild flowers. More importantly the sheep do not leave plant cuttings rotting on the ground, which when left change the composition of the soil. If this occurs the soil becomes increasingly nutrient rich, which is the wrong conditions for wildflowers. There are easily navigable paths around and through the meadows.

Common Tern Nesting Rafts Scheme.  This scheme has been running for nearly a decade. It was noticed that common terns were using the reservoir to rest and feed on their journey northward from South Africa. Rangers decided that they should try to simulate the birds breeding conditions. After much planning and a series of prototypes, a successful tern raft flotilla was created.

The rafts are moored away from the shore. The Terns have successfully breed on the rafts concurrently for the last nine years. The design of the rafts is modified each year so as to improve their performance.

Trees for Memories scheme.  This scheme invites people to purchase trees in memory of a person or event. All we ask is that the tree be native to the British Isles.

The tree can be planted in a variety of places, ranging from secluded areas to areas bordering on paths. We will even dig the hole for you if you so desire.

Flock of Rare Breed Sheep.  We use the sheep to help us manage the meadows at the country park. They are environmentally friendly lawn mowers. The sheep eat invasive weeds but leave wildflowers alone on the whole. This results in a much better variety of plant life in our meadows. The sheep have very little impact on the area helping us maintain the healthy balance of flora and fauna present in our meadows.

We are lucky to provide grazing for three rare breeds of sheep, Castle Milk Morrit, Hebridean and Manx Longhtan.

Hazel Coppice Area. This part of the park is used to provide raw material for the community garden and for the construction of hurdles and other traditional structures for such events as countryside day. The coppice is on a five yearly cycle, meaning that there are five stands of hazel, each being coppiced once every five years. This provides the park with a small area of living history.

Coppice management methods have been used for centuries in this country. By continuing this tradition we have received much praise from visitors, who often see this management technique as part of our national heritage. This style of management is sustainable in the long term and is valuable as habitat and as a visual amenity.

Local Nature Reserve (LNR).   Daventry Country Park was designated as a Local Nature Reserve on 2nd May 2007.

View the LNR designation and map View the 10 year Daventry Country Park Local Nature Reserve Management Plan To view other LNR information please visit the Environmental Planning Page