Cabbage White Butterfly

Lots of butterflies in the garden!

Rolling meadows

Josh is busy at work - rolling the meadows to smooth out any lumps ready for silaging in a few weeks (making fancy stripes too)!

Bird spotting

Saw these birds when I was checking the sheep this afternoon.

Pheasants

Gull

Ducks

Oystercatchers

Lapwing chicks

Spotted two lapwing chicks this afternoon on the field alongside the track to the birdhide.

Cuckoo calling!

We walked over to Bleasdale this afternoon to Bleasdale Tower Gardens Open Afternoon - a pleasant walk and lovely gardens. On our walk home we heard the cuckoo calling - the first time I've heard it this year.

Breeding Wader Survey (3rd Visit)

A total of 58 adult lapwing – suggesting 29 pairs – at least 3 of these are still sitting.

There are now lots of chicks about since my last visit on the 20th April – a total of 31 seen, from at least 14 different broods – some of these are getting well grown, and still in broods of 3, suggesting survival is good. This number of young will be a minimum count – its very likely there will have been others I didn’t see. There were several adult birds that were behaving as if they had young with them, but I could not see the chicks.

The fields nearest the hide continue to be where most of the lapwing are to be seen.

One sitting oystercatcher was also seen, and at least 5 curlew were present.

There were six wheatears on the main hide field, including several very smart males – two were even sitting on the roof of the hide at one point !

The pond at the top of the farm held a brood of young moorhen with adults.

I also saw several brown hare.

Duck on bird table!

Saw this duck on a bird table outside a house in Calder Vale this afternoon.

Calder Vale Bluebell Wood

Walked down to Calder Vale village this afternoon through the church wood, which is carpeted with bluebells. Called in at the village hall for a bluebell tea - homemade banoffi pie, delicious!

Refreshments are available during May on Saturdays and Bank Holidays at St John's Church and on every Sunday afternoon in the village hall in Calder Vale. Well worth a visit!!

Calder Vale

Blossom trees in full bloom in Calder Vale.

Caldertop Heritage

Bleasdale Delight has given birth to a bull calf and we have named him Caldertop Heritage - our first pedigree charolais calf.

Cows let out for the summer

Steve let some cows out today for the summer. It's good to see cows and calves out in the field.

Wheatear

Photographs of Wheatear spotted from the birdhide at lunchtime today - stopping off on their migration to Africa to feed on insects on the open ground.

Viewings from the birdhide

The following birds were spotted today by Gavin Thomas, RSPB and a group of delegates on a Field Trip as part of Bowland Symposium:-

Lapwing 40+
Curlew 2
Redshank 2
Whimbrell - approx 70 flew towards Barnacre
Wheatear 3
Oystercatcher - 1 sat on nest
Peregrine - 1 flew over

Cuckoo Flower