Crayfish at Calke

Work has started on a major restoration and rescue project at Calke Park in The National Forest. The 500 acre National Trust parkland is home to some of the oldest and most spectacular veteran trees in the country.

Beautiful as they are, a report found that some of them were causing structural damage to a cascade of four 18th century ponds and connecting weirs: a notable historic feature of the park that was then in need of substantial repair work.

But the cracks and crevices created by tree roots growing into the underwater stonework were also found to be home to colonies of the endangered white-clawed crayfish. So the restoration work is progressing as sympathetically as possible with submerged ‘rockeries’ providing additional habitats for the protected species.