Hens and snow

The hens do not like the snow - they wouldn't come out of the shed!

Snow

First day of the school holidays and we are covered in snow. Perfect timing!

Sightings on Calder Vale walk

Walked from Caldertop Cottage on 1st November past St John's Primary School down the church wood and back up from the village of Calder Vale (circular walk). Saw 3 deer on west bank of River Calder, squirrels, rabbits, magpies, pheasants, blue tits, wrens and a robin.

Thank you to Michael & Elaine Johnston for making a note of these sightings in the Wildlife Diary.

Free range chickens

Collected 5 more ex-battery hens from the British Hen Welfare Trust today. We will keep them separate from our existing hens for a few days to allow them to get used to each other!

Viewings from the bird hide

11/8/10 - starlings, magpie, lapwings, ducks and pheasants
15/8/10 - heard curlews but didn't see them
19/8/10 - sheep, pheasants and rabbits

Caldertop Cottage Nature Diary

Seen at Caldertop Cottage between 1st and 6th August 2010:-

Pheasants, swallows, swifts, great tits, blue tits, magpies, robins, goldfinches, pied wagtails, collared dove, hares, rabbits, chaffinches, partridges, mallards, wrens, blackbirds, starlings, house sparrows, dunnocks, kestrel, curlew, bullfinch, redshank and pipistrelle bats.

Thank you to Kelvin, Sarah, Thomas and Benjamin Raby for a making a note of all these sightings in our Nature Diary.

Sightings from the cottage.

The following were logged in the cottage nature diary by guests Maggie & Peter Gentry:-
29/6/10 Woodpecker on fat ball on bird table in the garden. Curlew, oystercatchers and magpie seen on the farm.
30/6/10 Swifts around cottage and also swallows and red admiral buterflies. Dunnick, chaffinch and sparrows at the bird table. Blackbirds on the lawn.
2/7/10 Magpie at the bird table.
4/7/10 Young pied wagtail on the garden wall. 3 brown hares in the field next to the cottage.