Wildlife on the farm is bathed in sunshine here in Devon. The Sun continues to shine this week and although the farm could really do with some rain, I do love the sunshine.
In recognition of World Environment Day which is on Friday 5th June, so just a few days away, I thought I’d tell you about some of the local wildlife we are lucky enough to have seen just recently.
Shortly after the start of lockdown Iain stumbled across a family of fox cubs and after some time sitting and also deploying my basic motion sensitive camera, we managed to get some video footage and a few nice stills of these little characters which I have shared on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/hollywaterholidays. They are now virtually impossible to get a glimpse of.
Silage season is always a good time to spot some of our wild inhabitants and as well as the unusual visits from the red kites I mentioned before we usually get a sighting or two of hares. I love hares and as we are a livestock farm and they prefer crops we don’t have a lot of them. Unfortunately, I never caught the one we saw late one evening on camera but it always makes me happy to know there are still a few about. Rabbits, on the other hand are plentiful on the farm and seeing them is very common indeed. At the moment there are many about of assorted sizes as breeding will have started some time ago now and subsequent litters are also out and about.
Our bird feeders outside the huts are emptied at super speed by their visitors. Having set my camera there on day last week I had confirmation of what we already thought that the squirrels probably consume most of the contents but it was also nice to see both the male and female Greater Spotted Woodpecker paying a visit. We know they raise at least 2 young last year. Also an assortment of small birds.
Holly Water river, at the bottom of the field is a lovely spot and a couple of years ago Iain caught a glimpse of a kingfisher on it. I set the camera and (amongst hundreds of shots when the camera was set off by moving leaves!) I managed to get a snippet of electric blue and orange diving! We also have a pair of grey herons who live by the river and have obliged with a photo now and again. Guests have also spotted their nest high in a tree on the river bank below the huts.
We are really so lucky to live here and have the opportunity to watch, enjoy and learn from all of these other residents. Wildlife on the farm offers us and our guests a real opportunity to connect with nature and for this I am truly grateful.