Latest Wildlink News

from Church Farm

NEW 'DEVON LIFE' magazine July feature

Wildlife Photography with Andrew Cooper

click here for devon.greatbritishlife.co.uk/out-and-about/wildlife/

NEW Photographic Courses - Wildlife and Landscape - Devon or Pyrenees

click here for further details of Pyrenean course

New talk available on the remarkable history and nature of Church Farm

'WILD DAYS † MEDIEVAL KNIGHTS'

click here for more information

Virtual tour of the farm with stunning video clips of wildlife

Part funded by the Countryside Stewardship Scheme

click here for a wild virtual tour of Church Farm

September highlight - Osprey with fish and a jackdaw over Church Farm

Whatever next .........

After the coldest winter for over 40 years, followed by a cold dry spring and now the sweltering heat of early summer, so far, this has been a year of extremes. But it obviously suits our wild flowers. Although late, the primroses produced a stunning display, and combined with a carpet of bluebells in the woods and masses of wild cherry blossom, it was a very colourful start to summer.

Last year ended with a real treat - a hobby chasing bats in August and the following month an osprey flying over the house with its supper on five consecutive evenings! After that birding bonanza I could never have guessed the delights this spring would bring. At the end of April an RSPB group visit to the farm was just getting ready to start our walk when a member of the party suddenly pointed skyward. A large bird of prey leisurely flew over the farm. But this was no common buzzard it was a magnificent Red Kite! Even more remarkable, this was the first record of red kite on this farm.

A few weeks later when I was beginning to think that nothing would ever surprise me again, I was rendered speechless one evening as the light began to fade. Our nesting kestrels seemed unduly agitated. Stepping outside I could hear what I thought was a peregrine calling close by, when to my utter amazement a massive white falcon took off from a grassy bank near the kestrel barn. With pure white underparts and dark grey speckling on its back it looked for all the world like a gyr falcon but it also had black 'moustache' streaks more like a saker or peregrine falcon. Obviously some falconer had lost a very valuable bird.

Now I am wondering what the rest of summer has in store .........

BADGER LATEST: June 2010

Wild badger cubs can now be seen most evenings feasting on peanuts or playing underground

 

Our badgers are very active in spring. After the birth of their young, the big boars mate with any of the sows they can find and although fights are rare we do occasionally here noisy quarrels. The arrival of warmer weather should mean a reduction in the amount of bedding they take underground and that means a better view for us. Badgers do not hibernate but do sleep a lot during winter, especially when temperatures drop below freezing. Occasionally the underground cameras are obscured by bedding as the badgers rearrange their bedrooms but eventually they will clear it away. We usually catch our first glimpse of cubs from April onwards so we are waiting for our first sightings both inside their sett and later when they follow their parents to their nightly peanut supper.

 

  Wildlife photography keeps me busy year round. While Spring and Summer is definitely the

best and most pleasant time to enjoy the great outdoors, Autumn and Winter often produce

some of the best lighting opportunities.

Read the story of the restoration of Church Farm's medieval mill pond..

Click here to see next wildlife photography courses and wildlife television training courses

Click here to find out more about Andrew Cooper's illustrated talks