Biodiversity

Coopershill house is set in a 500 acre estate of farm and woodland.  We farm sheep, cattle and fallow deer and they spend most of their lives roaming free and grazing green Sligo grass.

The river Unshin (Arrow in English) flows through the estate and is a corridor for trout, salmon, perch and bream from Lough Arrow to the Atlantic.  It provides a home for rich insect and riparian wildlife.

Approximately 1/3 of the estate is woodland, made up of commercial forestry (sycamore, ash, sitka spruce and larch), native woodland (sessile oak, silver birch, alder, Scots pine, hazel, holly) and around the house 250 year old oak, beech, horse chestnut, ash, lime, yew and cedar trees.

Our beekeeper Philip Sheridan has 5 hives near the house providing seasonal honey for the kitchen and the breakfast table.  Our own flower, fruit and vegetable gardens mean that we need to buy in very little of this produce and our guests enjoy organic, day fresh food.

In season we are able to forage wild garlic, fungi and elderflower for the table.  Coopershill is a haven for wildlife with daily sightings of red squirrels, pine martens, fallow deer, jays, tree creepers and regular sightings of otters, Irish stoats & woodpeckers.  Here are complete lists of the mammals and birdlife at Coopershill.