Empty nest syndrome!

I have peeped very briefly every day at the pheasant sat on her nest incubating her eggs. Throughout all this dreadful weather she has stayed put and I was very fearful that the eggs would hatch on one of those cold wet days, the chicks would have struggled to survive the low temperatures and soggy weather. Hurray! I went today and she had hatched her eggs on this lovely bright sunny day. What a relief, at least they stand a chance of surviving and finding food now it is drier. Here is a photo of the nest with the broken egg shells. You will see there are 3 that have not hatched. They must not have been fertilized. The mother will have taken the chicks away from the nest now and will not return. Sometimes if we are lucky we catch a glimpse of them running after their mother, so cute and fluffy!

The pheasants nest after the chicks have hatched!

Winning smiles!

I must share with you some brilliant news. We are inspected by the AA organization for our star rating regarding the quality of our accommodation.  I have received a letter from the AA informing me that I have been nominated by the inspector to be one of only 25 finalists out of 3,500 places in the country who are inspected by the AA  for the  award of 'AA Friendliest B&B of the year 2012'  It has nothing to do with me entering a competition or anything like that. The nomination is by the inspector who stayed at our farm.  I am so thrilled, it's a prestigious award and a great Honour. We are invited to an awards ceremony in London and only then will we know who has actually won and who the two runners up are. It is such a thrill to be recognized in this way, especially for a job I love doing! How lucky am I? The AA is such an historic brand that people can trust it makes the nomination doubly special.
Lorraine

Deer appear!

Deer in the orchard

Around mid day as I walked through the orchard towards the pond I was startled by a deer, it was eating in the corner amongst the trees. As soon as she saw me she launched herself over a fence and galloped away across the adjoining field. They are such beautiful, graceful creatures and I love to see them.

 I am afraid it has been another very wet day, I am hoping the moorhens have their nest in a better position this time. I am still waiting to catch a glimpse of their chicks!

Roof roost return of Little Owls!

Yesterday I noticed part of a worm on the patio at the corner of our farmhouse. That made me smile, now why would part of a worm make me smile? The same thing happened  last Spring and it was a while before I realized that a Little Owl had her young on the roof of our farmhouse. Tucked in where the topping stones come down the side of the roof under the edge of the slates were some fluffy Little Owlets. The parts of worms were the meals the mother was bringing to feed her young and they must occasionally drop the odd one. This photo was taken last year of a young Little Owl almost ready to leave the roost and getting a bit too big to hide under the slates!

Can you spot the Little Owl sat on the spouting near the edge of the slates.

Bright eyed pheasants hiding!

A glorious day here at the farm but a cold wind is blowing. Our guests staying  in Wren cottage said they had a peeping tom last night, don't panic, it was a hare! she had come right up to the lounge window and was peering in. The windows are floor to ceiling in all cottages and the wild hares are funny as sometimes they do go and have a look in. They have beautiful big eyes, just imagine, they probably look at guests in the cottages as if they are viewing creatures in a zoo!!! They may even be impressed that we keep humans behind glass and not bars!
I discovered a pheasant when I was weeding a border in the garden today, she has made a nest tucked in among the leaves and plants. They sit very still to try and hide from predators whilst they incubate the eggs and perhaps only leave the nest once a day to feed. I  grabbed my camera and took a quick photo for you to see.

Pheasant in our garden incubating her eggs on the nest.

Our patio this afternoon, this is the view you get from our bed and breakfast dining room.

Storms wash away moorhens nest....but they breed on!

Just an update on our pair of moorhens that are nesting near the pond (lake!) Last Tuesday we had terrific storms which gave us a deluge of rain, it was very much needed as we were entering a drought around here but sadly it has washed away the moorhens nest and they have lost that batch of eggs which hadn't yet hatched. But we despair not! they have been coming onto the pond and chasing each other around in a mating frenzy. They must be starting again and intending to try and have another nest of eggs to hatch. I am really pleased that they are determined to survive and hopefully these eggs will hatch as I can't wait to see the fluffy little chicks rushing around!

A Five Star day!

A five star day! We have just been awarded a fantastic Five Star Food Hygiene Rating. This is the top rating an establishment can be awarded for their food hygiene. The government's Food Standards Agency are rolling out inspections across the country of anywhere which sells food. The star rating is  from one to five, one being poor and 5 being the highest and best. The food hygiene inspection is carried out by  environmental officers from your local council. The results are published on the Food Standards agency web site food.gov.uk/ratings.