SUSTAINABLE ECO-CONSCIOUS HOLIDAYS

Nature watch

SUSTAINABLE ECO-CONSCIOUS HOLIDAYS

Nature watch

WILDLIFE watching

At Puddleduck Valley we are truly blessed with the wildlife that calls home. Badgers, otters, roe deer, daubenton, pipestrelle and horshoe bats and roe deer.

Magical badger watching

Experience an unforgettable evening in our woodland hide, where you can quietly watch badgers emerge from their sett. It’s a rare chance to witness these fascinating creatures up close in their natural habitat. A private and intimate encounter, use of the hide is limited to one cottage per evening.

We take great care not to disturb the badgers, so your patience and quiet presence help ensure they feel safe enough to feed and play.

The best time to watch badgers is late spring to summer, arriving before sunset and waiting until dusk

Top Tips - Badger Hide

  • Wear dark quiet clothing (wear waterproofs under fleece)
  • Stay warm and comfortable (You'll be sitting still for ages)
  • Avoid perfumes and strong scents
  • Move only when the badgers are absent
  • Use our red light torch - White light will scare them away
  • Arrive an hour before sunset
  • Stay quiet - The smallest sound can scare them away

Deer spotting

Deer are common in our woodland and in Dunsland National Trust. The best time to spot them is at dawn and dusk. We also often see deer during the day at quiet times. 

Deer footprints are easy to spot in the soft ground of the valley. We have added some seats around our woodland at the best spots.

As with badgers, the trick to spotting deer is staying quiet and being down wind – avoid perfume and strong scents.

Otters

By far the hardest mammal to spot at Puddleduck Valley, we are excited to have recently seen an otter in the river running through our woodland. They have left evidence of their visits by leaving crayfish shells on the river banks.

The best chance to spot otters is during the day by staying upwind and keeping silent. We can advise you of the sites with the best chances.

Owls

You’re unlikely to spot an owl at Puddleduck Valley but we can almost guarantee that you’ll hear them! We have three species of owl that live and visit here. Barn owls visit most evenings over the meadows while little owls and tawny owls are those that you will hear calling at night  through the trees.

Bats

We get a number of species of bats visiting Puddleduck Valley including Common pipistrelle, Soprano pipistrelle,  Daubenton’s and Brown long-eared bats. The Daubenton’s bats can be spotted hunting over the ponds in the valley at dusk, whereas the other species can be spotted  hunting around the gardens and woodland edges. We have a bat detector available for guests to borrow which allows you to listen to the bats echo location calls.

Birds

Following advice from Devon Wildlife Trust and the National trust we now leave a proportion of dead trees standing as deadwood and some piles of old logs. This provides valuable habitat for a wide range of invertebrates, fungi and lichens that is often missing in our tidy parklands. 

The biodiversity at Puddleduck Valley has dramatically increased over the years attracting a wide range of bird species including less spotted species including Moorhen, Willow Tit, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Kingfisher, Grey Heron and Gold Crest.

Butterflies & Moths

Also benefitting from our environmental policy of leaving areas of the valley untouched, we have also seen a much larger variety of different species of bees, butterflies and moths. 

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