A Nide of Pheasants

Pheasants are not an unusual sight in our grounds in the autumn.

They love to peck at the windfall apples and pears in the orchard or, if the chicken coop door is left open, feast on the hens’ layers pellets.

Ducklings – an update

The 3 ducklings have become so tame that they will take food out of your hand and they are often found scrounging for food in the chicken coop. All 3 ducklings have started to lose their downy feathers and patches of adult feathers are appearing.

Ducklings!

This morning 3 ducklings hatched in the nest in the reeds by the side of the pond. Shortly afterwards they dipped their feet in the water and took their first swim.

We hope to post some photos soon but have kept our distance today so as not to disturb them.

A Pheasant Nesting in the Orchard

Good Friday, at the foot of the pear tree in the orchard, amongst the tall daffodil leaves, a hen pheasant made a shallow nest. She has laid a clutch of 10 little blue green eggs and the male pheasant can be seen strutting around nearby keeping watch. We just hope the eggs survive as foxes, badgers and crows are frequent visitors to our garden.

Quince Blossom

The flowering quince outside Willow Cottage is normally the first of the fruit trees to blossom in our grounds.

With luck the squirrels will not steal the fruit when it appears and we will be able to make some delicious quince jelly in the autumn.

Red Deer at Broadway Tower

It is not unusual to see Red Deer, including this magnificent stag, in the grounds at Broadway Tower. The Tower, about a 40 minutes’ walk from us, sits high on the Cotswold escarpment above our Cotswold holiday cottages.

Broadway Tower was the idea of the great 18th century landscape designer, Capability Brown. The Tower was built for George William 6th Earl of Coventry with the help of the renowned architect James Wyatt and was completed in 1798.

On a clear day, the view from the Tower is extensive across the Vale of Evesham and the Welsh borders taking in up to 16 counties in all directions.

Frosty Willow

I love our magnificent willow tree at any time of the year. It looks particularly spectacular covered in hoar frost:

Otters in the Cotswolds

Signs that otters are living in the River Churn in Gloucestershire were discovered by the Cotswold Water Park wardens in 2009 adding to recorded sightings of otters in the Severn Vale and near Bourton-on-the-Water since 1997. Surveys conducted by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust in the early 1990s found signs of otters on all of Worcestershire’s major watercourses and more recent surveys have discovered that otter numbers are increasing across the county and that they are spreading up the River Avon.

European Otter (photographed by Catherine Trigg)

Bunchers Brook at the bottom of our grounds in West End, Broadway, feeds Badsey Brook which in turn flows into the River Avon upstream of Evesham. An otter spraint has recently been sighted along the banks of Bunchers Brook. The surrounding trees and scrub along the river bank and in particular a cavity beneath a tree trunk, could possibly provide a holt or secure resting site for otters.

Otters need clean water in which to live and find food to eat. The water in Bunchers Brook runs clear and fish and crayfish loved by otters are often sighted in the brook by our guests, no doubt providing the otters with the food they require to make the brook their home.

 

Tallest Willow Tree in the Cotswolds?

Standing tall between the lime tree walk and the orchard in the grounds of our Cotswold holiday cottages is this wonderful willow tree. Perhaps the tallest willow in the Cotwolds?

Comma Butterfly Basking in the October Sunshine

This Comma Butterfly, with its distinctive scalloped edged wings and orange and brown colouring, was spotted basking in the October sunshine yesterday afternoon alongside The Cotswold Way.