Garden Visitors in Winter

As it's some while since I contributed to The Bowland Blog I should make a New Year effort and get back to it and note the winter visitors in the garden. The song thrushes are still making daily visits for the berries on the holly tree and lately have begun to come to the Cotoneaster by the house. The nut and seed feeders are busy with a variety of tits and the greedy woodpecker.The pheasants,blackbirds and robins are always grateful for the house food scraps but this morning they had competition from a stoat that came and decided to make off with a full piece of gingerbread It didn't stay to eat with them but it carried it away at great speed, it was sporting its white coat for the winter.The garden goes very quiet when the sparrow hawk visits.
Looking over the hedge and down the field I have been noticing more heron visiting the lake usually just one or two but while pegging washing out last week there were three. This caused a bit of a spat I was surprised to see them having a go at each other. As I am sitting at the computer my eye has been taken with a group of feeding birds and if I'm not mistaken I think we have visiting lapwing.....
Yes we have! I got the binoculars out just to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me.
We now have regular sightings of the barn owl hunting as we drive down the road, it makes a lovely site. The new woodland has become good habitat for it.

Stoats and Toads

We have recently had a very playful stoat visiting the garden.
 In Spring we had guests staying who came in one day to tell me about seeing a stoat rolling an egg accross the road as they drove home from Chipping. At the time I said they were lucky to have seen this happen as I had heard of this but never seen it myself. A few weeks ago as I drove through the other side of Chipping village on my way to Whalley I too saw a stoat rolling an egg accross the main road. I ask myself "is this a common event or are the stoats in Chipping EggHeads" ?

Yesterday after Robert cut the hedge he decided to trim some of the ivy on the garden wall as it was hanging over the path and it was giving us an extra shower each time we brushed passed it. As soon as the offending strands of ivy were removed there were three small nests in a row, all within a few feet of each other at between five and six feet from the ground. All were empty of birds but to his surprise the third one contained a rather disgruntled toad.

Pied Wagtails and Swallows

One afternoon last week I managed to spot where the wagtails had been taking all the insects that they were collecting on the garden. They were busy feeding their young in a nest site that has in other years been used by the Grey Wagtails in the wall of Brook House. Barrie Tyrer called and he took the pictures, thanks Barrie.
After my worries that the swallows were very late in arriving this year they seem to be doing very well rearing lots of young with nests in four buildings. It's the first time they have used the verandah on the summer house.  

Flowers in The Meadow

On Sunday Jacob ( our grandson ) suggested a picnic for tea and as the weather was perfect at that moment  we got it packed and set out accross the fields towards The Parish Hall Wood. The picnic table and bench came in handy and we had a lovely time sitting eating while listening to the birds in the wood and the curlews calling over the fields. Crossing The Middle Field was very pretty with the patches of Common Orchid amongst the buttercups.

It's a miracle

At last the determined Oyster Catcher that made her nest in the hollow in the top of the gate post has hatched two of her original three eggs. We believe the third was taken by the pestering crows.
She did need a little help in the end as the chicks could not manage to vacate the nest as it was to deep for them. This wonderful weather will give them a good start and we did see them later on in the day safely with Mum and Dad on the ground.

Springtime

On Friday I went to the orchard to pick a bunch of pheasant eye flowers before the cottage guests were due to arrive. I was surprised to find I had company, this Roe Deer.
At last the swallows have settled in the barn, there have been swallows passing through on the farm but our own group are a whole month later than last year.
The woods are looking lovely with the bluebells at their best. The cow parsley and red campion are now out in the hedge rows, everything looks so green, each day more trees come into leaf.

Nest with a view.

picture taken by Helen Turner

picture taken by Barrie Tyrer

This Oyster Catcher decided to go for a nest with a view. She is sitting on three eggs, at first she flew off the nest everytime a car passed by. After a few days she was ok with the passing traffic even with the rattle of the cattle grid. We have some concerns about the number of times she flies from the nest when people pass by using the footpath but we hope she is successful.