What a beautiful weekend. The daffs are almost out, the snowdrops are really a great show this year. One of our rescue fowl (a small bantam) has been bullied by the hens so we have moved her and on Sunday so that she wouldn't be lonely we bought three more bantams and a bantam cockrell, he's so handsome. They all laid today magic! We are thinking about all the work we need to do in the garden, it will be open for a weekend in July. More about that later.All the bird boxes are back in place and being inspected by prospective tennants. We're also keeping an eye out for the return of the frogs and toads


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Mike excitably reported sightings of the female hen harrier on his way to work last week - the first of the year. I'm yet to have a sighting at all, never mind just for this year! A Festival Bowland hen harrier safari guided walk is probably in order for me. He was driving through the trough of Bowland at the time so wasn't able to get a photo, but here's an image of the female next to her nest in Bowland taken a few years ago.

It's also always wonderful to see and hear the return of lapwing and curlew which we've all been experiencing from our new office base at Dunsop Bridge, those evocative calls are a sure reminder that spring has arrived!

Forest of Bowland AONB website

A couple of weeks earlier than last year, our regular spring visitors - a pair of Greylag geese - arrived. They seem to stay for a while - wandering around the car park and buildings, sitting on the grass and fishing jetties. As this is being written at 6pm they can be heard calling as they fly in to land on the fishing lake for the night.

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Click on the photo to see a very cheeky mouse looking for seeds that the birds have dropped.

Ladies-in-waiting...they're due to start lambing this week.








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March 2nd and a pair of marauding gooseanders landed on the pond. They're after the trout that the heron hasn't taken. Our Goose-y is trying to ignore them. And the moorhen (a tiny black blob at the pond's right) is waiting to attack them if they dare get near her nest.

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On 20th February we saw our first Curlew of the season - all 22 of them! They seemed to navigate by aiming for Horseshoe Wood at Waddow Hall and then carried on up the valley towards Gisburn.
Also a family of deer spotted below Horseshoe Wood, 2 adults, 3 young plus an attendant hare.
Plenty of bird life with feeders being replenished several times per week.

New rose border being dug ready for planting and the fence around the new fruit and veg garden is going in mid March.

Snowdrops are looking their best ever. Also Witch Hazel in full flower with Snowflakes (Leucojum) now out as well.

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1st MARCH 2010

Ofically the First Day of SPRING and St. Davids Day, what a beautiful sunny morning and the day here has certainly come in like a lamb - lets hope it stays that way this month and does not go out like a lion! The birds are in a frenzie of activity around the bird feeders and I caught my first sighting this year, of a Gold Finch on the niger seeds. The Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and all the varities of Tits are still frequent visitors to the feeders.

One of my guests thought she may have heard an early call of the Bittern. It has been heard this early so we will have to keep our ears tuned in for its BOOM.

Everywhere the grass in the fields and countryside is still looking so bleached and yellow from the long cold winter lets hope spring weather will not be too late in coming.

Six bird boxes have been positioned around the vegetable garden and orchard. Some with a 28mm hole are for Great tits and tree sparrows. The others with a 25mm hole are for blue tits and coal tits. Within an hour of the first one being put up blue tits were inspecting the new accomodation.

This year, snowdrops were quite late to appear but have given a spectacular show and have flowered over a long period of time.

Coppicing work with BTCV is continuing in one of our wooded areas. Most of the trees being felled will re-grow from their stump but some like this Scots pine will not. They provide rapid growth and as evergreens are good windbreaks but they shade out other trees and suppress the growth of many flower species. Not all are taken out in any one area.

The main trunks and thicker branches become firewood whilst the smaller branches and twigs, or brashwood, is piled into compact heaps to provide wildlife habitats.

 

Additional volunteers came from Lancaster University and Lancaster Royal Grammar School sixth form to help out which enabled us to clear a larger area.

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These pictures have been taken at various stages throughout today. The early morning mist and little bit of snow were followed by birds on the feeders, but what made my day was the first of our lambs to be born . Just waiting now for Harron Clarissa our pedigree dexter cow to give birth to her seventh calf due anytime now. As you can see she doesn't seem to be in any hurry!

This weekend, we have been making nest boxes for blue tits, great tits and coal tits to be sited in and around our vegetable plot and orchard. This is to encourage the birds to eat sawfly and codling moth caterpillars that damage our soft fruit bushes and apple trees. Pressure is on as blue tits are regularly seen now inspecting our existing boxes so the new ones need to be put up this week.

The boxes make use of offcuts of timber, waterproof roofing membrane and ECOS paint sample pots from our resource centre work.

Our window and door frames, made by local Galgate joiner Andrew Corless, were delivered this week. The frames are now being painted using ECOS organic paints based in Heysham which are solvent-free and give off no fumes.

Work continues on the towers of the resource centre including making 20-30 swift boxes. These have been constructed behind the stone work, then the plastic pipe removed and the entrance slit finished to the correct size. Slits have also been left to allow bats access to the centre of the tower to roost or breed.

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We saw these deer grazing whilst walking at Bashall Eaves yesterday. Trying to get the camera out without making any noise was quite difficult, but just managed to get a couple of pics before they bolted.

6th February - Around 7.45 am wonderful view of a mother OTTER and her two kits swimming in the mere at Lower hide on Leighton Moss. Red Deer sighted in field near farm around 8 am. Birds busy feeding on Bird feeding station by dining room window with Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpecker making numerous visits.

7th February - Tawny Owl sighted from Lower Hide.

10th February - Several Red Deer Hinds with last years calves seen around 2 pm in field next to road between Leighton Hall and Farm.

17th February - Dog Otter seen walking along causeway around 8 am.

18th February - Snowdrops nearly at their best in the Orchard. My girls (the hens) are starting to produce more eggs again and really enjoying basking in the sun again.

The Garden Cottage Website Well at last the snowdrops are through. We have just finished cleaning all the bird boxes out and soaked them in jeyes fluid. They've been dried and put back up. By the way some of the birds are acting not a moment to soon! We've been getting all the raised beds ready for planting and the hens are laying again, yippee. I couldn't believe my eyes yesterday there was a Sparrow Hawk on the bird table it hadn,t caught a bird but as soon as I went for the camera it flew away