Wildlife in the Forest of Bowland A.O.N.B.

WHY NOT GO PONY TREKKING WHILST YOU VISIT BROADGATE FARM.



www.braedens.co.uk

Broadgate farm on a snowy day, 9" in 2 hours

Coldest night was 12th January 2010 when the wind chill dropped temps to -15.7 degreesC.

Hi Anne & Brian,

Sorry we have not got back to you sooner we have been rather busy. Thanks for a pleasant stay. As promised here is a list of the birds we saw whilst walking in the area roughly in a 5 mile radius as seen over 7-8 June 09 ;

blackbird, song thrush, magpie, jackdaw, carrion crow, curlew, buzzard, woodpigeon, house sparrow, lapwing, swallow, house martin, wren, kestrel, hedge sparrow, partridge, pied wagtail, goldfinch, mallard, chiffchaff, pied flycatcher, spotted flycatcher, dipper, grey wagtail, chaffinch, blackcap, robin, nuthatch, blue tit, willow warbler, greater spotted woodpecker, pheasant, merlin, siskin, coal tit, green finch, bullfinch. We hope this is of interest to you .

We look forward to our next visit.

Regards Ken & Shirley ( casual birders & walkers)

Guest enjoy watching the birds who cheekily feed on the window feeders at breakfast time.


click onto the photo to enlarge and see a bullfinch feeding

Today's walk round the farm:

First birds seen were two juvenile Pied Wagtails being fed by one of the parents. At the farm the Swallows were busy feeding their young. The House Martins have built nests on the farm house and 6 birds were seen hunting insects over one of the fields. House Sparrows were chirping noisily in the outbuildings. Then it was onto the hide to check on the progress of the Lapwings. There was just one pair left in the "hide" field and they obviously had young as they were getting a bit agitated on my approach but all the other Lapwings had disappeared. Next it was on to Broadgate Wood which was a lot quieter than last visit but some birds were still singing including Mistle Thrush, Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Chiffchaff and Treecreeper. A Great Spotted Woodpecker called. 4 juvenile Mallards stayed motionless on Winsnape Brook until danger (i.e. me) had passed. The fields beyond the wood were a riot of buttercups and, in the sunshine, Painted Lady butterflies and a Small White were nectaring on the flowers. Just one Lapwing, one Redshank and one Curlew were seen in the far field.

I saw 16 Lapwing in the survey fields at Broadgate on my visit on 16th May. One pair definitely had young in the field near Bleasdale Tower as the adults were alarm calling and dive bombing me. The chicks were too well hidden so I couldn't see how many there were. I couldn't see any chicks with the 7 Lapwing in the field that the hide overlooks but it's possible that they were hidden in amongst the rushes or in the longer grass. The other possibilities are that the cool and very wet weather in the intervening 3 weeks has taken its toll on chicks or, a more optimistic possibility given the fact that there were fewer Lapwing than on the last visit, is that the chicks and parents have wandered off into the non-survey fields. As with many farms in Bowland Lesser Black-backed Gulls are constantly cruising around looking for a meal and 3 flew over the "hide" field whilst I was there.

Other waders seen on the 16th included 4 Snipe, Redshank, Oystercatcher and 3 Curlew.

It's so peaceful at the farm that I could hear a Cuckoo in the distance. Broadgate Wood was alive with birdsong from Willow Warblers, Blackcaps, Chiffchaff, Song Thrush, Robin, Blackbird, Dunnock, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Wren and Woodpigeon. A Buzzard soared over the wood. 4 Sand Martin hunted for insects in the lee of the wood whilst Swallows flew around the farm yard. House Sparrows chattered in the bushes near one of the barns. Birds near the stream included Grey Wagtail and a Grey Heron. Other birds on the farm were Goldfinch, Jackdaw and a single Carrion Crow.

I managed to see a Roe Deer this visit. Finally, there were at least 11 Brown Hares. They seem to occur in just about every field!

I visited Broadgate on 24th April to do my Lapwing survey and found a total of 23 birds i.e. 11 pairs or so in the survey fields. However, you can't just divide the number of birds by two as some males may have two "wives" so 23 birds might represent a number of triangles instead of pairs!

Whilst I ate my packed lunch in the car it was so enjoyable watching the Swallows flying down to a puddle in the farmyard to collect mud and bits of straw to make their nests. One pair squeezed through a tiny gap at the top of the barn door to get to their new home.

I've never seen so many brown hares in one area before. I was hoping that some would box as I've never seen them do that before but I'm still waiting.

Besides Lapwings and Swallows I saw:
22 Meadow Pipits in one field (probably on passage), Curlew, Oystercatcher, Mallard, Pheasant, Mistle Thrush, Siskin, Wren, Willow Warbler, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Blackcap, Blackbird, Kestrel, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, House Sparrow, Goldfinch and Reed Bunting.

Jean Roberts

Received my Green Tourism Business 'Silver' Award today at Hornby, had an excellent day out, very good speakers and excellent lunch

for more details about Green Tourism log onto http://www.green-business.co.uk/

21st March, quiet peaceful day following a misty start. Lapwings swooping
28th March, RSPB lapwing today, saw 2 buzzards
7th April, Plenty of phesants, 4 or 5 pairs of lapwings in field to south of bird hide
9th April, A lovely sunset with lots of birds in the field behind bird hide
9th April, lots of birds, lapwings, redshank, spotted redshank, snipe, culews, woodcocks, whimbels, along with plenty of hares and rabbits

Cooler today, but dry
Busy rolling and chain harrowing fields, missing the lapwing nest, there are not as many as last year but still quite lot. Buzzards have been sited in the area which will not help the other birds.
House martins are busy in the building with their nest.
I have been tidying the garden up. The blossom is still not out.

Even though its only 20th. April the weather today has been gorgeous, warm and sunny again.

Saw the 1st house martins yesterday, always a sign of warmer weather. they are busy today re-building their nest in the farm buildings and round the eves of the house.

The garden birds are busy feeding from the new bird feeders in the garden