Wonderful views

Great spot to get out of the rain and see the wonderful views.
Chelsea & Michael

Snow in December

Last day of the school term and it's snowing!

Appeal for rehomers for battery hens

British Hen Welfare Trust still have access to a lot of battery hens from farmers who are looking to empty their barren cages before the ban comes in on January 1st and they are trying to rehome as many as they can. The hens are Shavers, a hybrid commonly used in caged systems.
If you have ever thought about keeping a few hens we recommend you contact BHWT to rehome some ex-battery hens and give them a chance of happy retirement whilst enjoying your own supply of free range eggs!
Register your details at: http://www.bhwt.org.uk/cms/register-your-details/
Rehoming Day Bookings, queries etc (excluding Bank Holidays)
Mon-Fri 9.30 am to 4.00 pm Adele Hall, Haslingden - 0161 408 8355

 

Rescued hens

We have taken in 8 more rescued battery hens - picked them up on Saturday afternoon from a British Hen Welfare Trust collection. They are pale and missing a few feathers but are settling in well with our existing flock. The cock thinks that Christmas has come early - 8 more girls for him to keep charge of!

Bird hide nature diary

Had a lovely rest and lunch gere with our dogs. Weather awful but had lovely views and watched birds and sheep. Thanks.
Edna, Jimmy and dogs, Southport

Bird hide views

Enjoyed the shelter nce again. Great views.
The Lloyd Family

Great shelter!

Great shelter!
Noted in the Bird Hide Nature Diary by the Smiths, Ormskirk

Shelter in the bird hide

Thank for the shelter, very nice view from here!

Cottage Nature Diary

Pied wagtail, sparrows, swifts, robin, chaffinch, long-tailed tits, blue tits and starlings - all in the garden.
Alwyn and John Bulbeck

Cottage Nature Diary

We saw blue tits, a heron, a wren, swifts, sparrows, pheasants, hares, pied wagtail.

Carole, Frank and Elaine

Views from the bird hide

Wonderful views - great to see calves playing.
J & R, St Annes on Sea

Jay in the garden

A Jay visited our garden today - first time I've seen one close up! It didn't stay around for long - as soon as it saw me it gave a loud 'skraaak' and flew away into the trees.

Views from the bird hide

Thanks very much for the shelter and enjoyable views from the bird hide.
Patrica & Martin

Lancashire & Blackpool Tourism Awards 2011/12

Received notification today that we have been shortlisted in the Sustainable Tourism Award category for the Lancashire and Blackpool Tourism Awards 2011/12 which will take place on Thursday 22nd September.
Need to complete the application and gather all the evidence together before the end of August (and we go on holiday for a week tomorrow)!

Bird Hide Nature Diary

Thanks very much for the shelter.
Lots of love, Duke of Edinburgh walkers.

Cottage Nature Diary

We saw pied wagtails, great tits, hedgehog, pheasants, swallows,chaffinches, blackbirds, rabbits and wrens.

(Thank you to the Miller Family for making a note of these sightings in the nature diary).

Viewings from the bird hide

Lost count after 100+ lapwings! 5 cock pheasants, 3-4 swallows. Starlings (amongst lapwings). 1 hare, 1 oystercatcher, 4 dicks (mallard), 30 gulls - too far away to identify exactly (possibly black headed), 2 magpie, 1 curlew and 3 pigeons.

Hedgehog at the door

Got a surprise this afternoon when there was a young hedgehog just outside the door!

Pond Iris

Walked up to the pond this evening and the iris are flowering - one of my favourite flowers!

Bleasdale Delight

The newest addition to our cattle herd - Bleasdale Delight - a pedigree Charolais heifer.

Duck and ducklings

More ducklings waddling around the farm!

Viewings from the birdhide

2 pheasants - 1 being harrassed by a lapwing!
7/8 lapwings, 5 curlews, 2 hares and 3 crows

Viewings from the birdhide

We saw lapwings, curlews, oystercatchers, pheasants. Also hare, grouse and wagtail nearby.

Viewings from the birdhide

We saw a lapwing and a curlew. (Noted by Luke)

Viewings from the birdhide

We saw lapwings and a frog and lots of lovely buttercups.

Cottage Nature Diary

We saw red squirrels at Formby Nature Reserve (N.T.).
Lapwings, curlews, hares etc. here at the cottage.
Lapwings & babies, whimbrel, oystercatcher, curlew.
Shellduck, pink footed geese at Pilling Bank -
and, of course, glorious bluebells!

Pam Shaw, Eric and Diane Kingswood
30th April - 7th May 2011

Viewings from the birdhide

Seen at 9am - 4 lapwings, 2 oystercatchers, 1 hare and 1 curlew.

Viewings from the birdhide

26/4/11   1 lapwing
30/4/11   1 snipe
1/5/11   11 lapwings (noted by Joanne)

Lapwing chicks

There are several lapwing chicks in the fields around the farm now. 

Viewings from the birdhide

4 lapwings and 1 chick, 1 pheasant, 4 oystercatchers, 1 redshank, 1 bird and 11 chicks.

Easter Sunday sunrise!

Hannah and I walked up Parlick Fell at 5.30am this morning (along with a few other mad people) to watch the sunrise. It was a beautiful morning. The views were amazing!

Sightings around the cottage

We have seen these birds at the cottage, or very near by:-
Pheasants (loads of them)
Lapwings
Curlews
Whimbrel (roosting at Barnacre Reservoir)
Swallows
Pied Wagtails
Wheatear
Partridge
Saw a deer walking across the field next to the cottage one day. Also saw bats at night. Saw a hedgehog near Barnacre Reservoir and lots of brown hares near the hide, along the lane.
Loved it!

The Lockwoods (Huddersfield)

Bird Hide Viewings

1 pheasant and 3 oystercatchers.

Thank you to Sophie, Emily & Polly Harris.

Ducklings!

One of the ducks that has been waddling around the farm appeared with 16 ducklings!

Spring flowers

We have lots of primroses out on the lane to the cottage.

Bird Hide Viewings

Lambs and sheep, lapwings and rabbits.

Viewings from the bird hide

Loads of lambs and sheep, 2 curlews, 6 lapwings and 7 pheasants.

Thank you to Jake for making a note of these sightings.

Viewings from the bird hide

7 lapwings, 2 pheasants, 4 redshanks and 2 pied wagtails.

Thank you to Lynda, Tim and Katie for making a note of these sightings.

Green Tourism Award

We attended the Wyre Stars in Tourism Awards today at Thornton Little Theatre and were presented with the award for Green Tourism. A great achievement.
Well done to all the other award winners!

Viewings from the bird hide

2 pheasants, 5 lapwings, 1 hare and many sheep

Viewings from the bird hide

Very springlike and warm. Many lapwings, one hare, many pheasants, curlews and herring gulls.

Lapwing Nests

Found 2 lapwing nests in one of the fields this afternoon - one with 3 eggs and the other with 4 eggs.

Frog spawn

Found several clumps of frog spawn in the field dyke.

Lapwing nests

Went for a walk across the field in front of the bird hide this afternoon. Found 7 nests just in one small area of the field and there were several lapwings flying above.

Spring Lambs

Lambing season 2011 has officially begun!

Hen harrier sighting

13th March 2011
Walked down to Cobble Hey, then up Peacock Hill over to Delph Wood and then back across the fields to Landskill. Saw a rolling flock of starlings moving like a wave over the field. Many lapwings around, some of which looked to be protecting nests. Heard the call of the curlew a few times and then spotted one flying over. As we walked over Peacock Hill a brown hare rose suddenly out of the grass a few feet in front of us and hurtled away across the field.

14th March 2011
Walked to Bleasdale Moors and up to the peak of Hazelhurst Fell. As we sat up there we saw a hen harrier flying over us, swooping and rising and making a distinctive rasping 'kek kek' sound. We also saw lots of grouse and, on the way back, pheasants.

Thank you to our guests, John and Joy of Harrogate, for making a note of these sightings in our nature diary.

Viewings from the bird hide

Lots of lapwings and starlings. 3/4 curlew and 2 mallards (1 male and 1 female)

Viewings from the bird hide

12 mallard ducks
500+ starlings - a great aerial display!

Hens and pheasants

The hens are being joined by the local pheasants every morning at feeding time!

Sheep in the garden

Got up this morning to find 5 of the next door neighbour's sheep in the front garden, much to the amusement of the guests in the cottage!

I didn't find it funny, although, fortunately there wasn't any damage done - just a bit of pruning!!

Viewings from the bird hide

60+ lapwings, 90+ starlings, 2 curlew and 1 pheasant.

Noted in the nature diary in the bird hide.

More signs of spring!

The daffodils are almost flowering.

The lapwings have returned - can hear their unmistakeable call.

First signs of spring

The snowdrops are out at last. Spring is on the way!