Possibly the best Sticky Toffee Pudding……….

…in the world, was the reaction to Charlotte’s pud last week.

She has finally given in to the requests from guests to do the occasional dinner and will now do an evening meal when possible ( and with advance notice ), so far to rave reviews.

She did not learn the STP recipe at Leiths ( where she spent 3 months some years ago ), but slightly adapted the famous Miller Howe recipe when she had the Priory Hotel in Cartmel. It became so popular, people came from far and wide for this and a couple of other specialities. When we left the Priory, the nice people at the Village Shop spotted the possibilities for “Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding” and the rest, as they say, is history !!

The blossom is out finally and all the plants are trying to make up time ( as is the wretched lawn ! ).

We are very much looking forward to welcoming back shortly our old friends the lepidopterists from the Upper Thames Branch.  I just hope we get a bit of warm dry weather to make a BBQ possible and also encourage the Lepidoptera, which, like the plants, are behind schedule.

Mike

Drought !

There seems to have been a general misconception ( fuelled as usual by the selective reporting of the press) that in this part of the world we have snow up to the eaves blah, blah. Not only have we had no snow, we have had so little presipitation this year that we have had to resort to using the sprinkler on the garden !!

It is, of course, still unseasonably cold and the spring plants are really struggling – our daffodils are still not fully out.

Since my last jottings, Natural England have very kindly cleared all the rampant scrub, mainly Alder and Willow, in the marsh area on our side of the lake, so we now have an uninterupted view of the lake once again.

Seen a lone Marsh Harrier, but not one of our usual breeding pair – keeping fingers crossed. Many birds have suffered in this long cold spell, and, as result, the types visiting the feeders have varied this winter. Gone are our unruly Starlings, and we have only seen a lone Bullfinch, but the family groups of Long-tailed Tits monopolise the peanuts much more so than in previous years ( one of them is completely missing its tail, which seems very odd, but doesn’t seem to bother the bird – probably had a close encounter with the nasty resident Sparrow Hawk…. ). The Siskins have been evident again, but the star has been the odd visit by a Hawfinch, which is very unusual.

Happy Easter to everyone.

Murmurations

For some reason, watching the Starlings swirling and girating in the sky over the reed bed in front of the house yesterday, before collapsing into the trees, reminded me I haven’t posted anything for some time.

Well, perhaps subconsciously this is because there hasn’t been much “good” news to report.  Apart from a good Spring, the weather in 2012, along with most of the country, has been awful.  Sadly, because of all the rain and the resulting higher water levels, the Harrier nest got flooded and failed – apparently this was a fairly common story elsewhere. ( After such a poor year, the poor birds couldn’t face the long trek back to Africa, as the RSPB say that as many as 5 have over wintered at Leighton Moss. )

Conversely, guest numbers were the best ever, which seems rather odd.  Maybe it is simply that more people are “staycationing”, “nearcationing”, or simply re-discovering this wonderful country of ours.

Back to the Starlings, they have taken to roosting in front of the house more often recently, so the sights from the terrace are often spectacular when we have a bit of good weather in late afternoon. It is always awe-inspiring watching them – I still can’t understand how so many birds can fly so close together weaving hither and thither, without colliding !! Can anyone explain how they do it ??!

Here’s hoping for a much better 2013 generally and we wish everyone a happy, healthy and, hopefully, prosperous New Year.

Charlotte.

Osprey for Breakfast !

The hot weather has enabled us to offer breakfast on the terrace – always thoroughly enjoyed. ( The trouble is getting people to drag themselves away….)

This week, while watching the Harriers, the breakfasters were treated to sightings of the Osprey ( and again one evening ).  On one occassion the bird hung around for an hour, showing a clear preference for a particular large Scots Pine.  The experts tell us that a bird takes perhaps 5 years to reach breeding maturity.  As this one has been hanging around for about 3 years, maybe he/she will find a mate next year……… watch this space !

This is a fascinating time of year.  Word has spread about the Kew Gardens project to reintroduce the Lady’s Slipper Orchid, and guests have come from far and wide to view these rare, exotic plants, which seem to be thriving.

Caught 3 moles in the lawn – what a mess.  Makes the Croquet interesting, especially with the borrow.!! Still, this is the country…………………………………

Spring 2012

I can’t believe where time goes.  It only seems like yesterday that we were watching the Marsh Harrier chicks learning to fly and hunt, and already the parents are back refurbishing the nest.  It is all too easy to sit on the terrace and watch these iconic birds engage in their amazing aerobatics as they tumble out of the sky with the typical collapsing, diving, swoops, side slips and sudden sharp turns….. it is almost as if they are saying “Look !  See how wonderful it is to be alive !!”

We were again lucky to have another sighting of an Osprey a week ago catching fish in the lake, presumably on its way up to Bassenthwaite.

After a mild winter, the plants seem to be ahead of themselves again.  The Snowdrops didn’t seem to last very long, unlike last year when they hung around for weeks in the cold weather, and the Daffs are now nearly finished.

Blossom is bursting out all around, no doubt encouraged by the unseasonably warm temperaturse we had for a couple of weeks.

It all bodes well for Summer…………….talking of which, our old friends the lepidopterists from the Upper Thames Branch are taking us over again for part of July.  So we are very much looking forward to seeing old and new faces then, and entertaining them right royally. We always have a good laugh and thoroughly enjoy putting on barbeques and dinner for them.  Just hope the weather is good.

http://upperthames-butterflies.org.uk/index.html

Buzzard Attack !

The Harriers were kept very busy warding off a predatory Buzzard again this week-end.  It had presumably identified a very nice meal sitting in the Harriers’ nest, as the chicks still have not fledged.

The poor parents were beside themselves, constantly dive-bombing the Buzzard which stayed worryingly close to the nest site for quite some time. Fortunately, it gave up eventually.

A lone Cormorant has been a regular visitor to the lake recently and various types of deer entertain us most evenings. A pesky Peregrin got one of the plump Wood Pigeons last week – feathers all over the lawn !  There are now two nesting pairs locally, on Warton Crag and in Middlebarrow Quarry.

The weather continues to be gorgeous……………………….

June Up-date

I spoke too soon !   Not only has the weather been great since I posted, but two guests this week have seen an Osprey fishing in the lake.  Not sure if they saw the same bird each time, as two have been seen together at Leighton Moss apparently. This bodes well for the future…..

Our resident female Marsh Harrier has taken to spending more time away from the nest, perched on a favourite dead tree waiting for the male to return from hunting. When he does, she flies to meet him and he passes over the catch which she will then usually take back to the nest for the chicks. To be able to watch them do this tricky aerial maneouver repeatedly is quite amazing. Soon the chicks will be flying around the reed bed – can’t wait to see how many these clever parents have raised this year.

TTFN.

PS.  Martin,  your unidentified butterfly was almost certainly a Ringlet.

June 2011

Well, summer has never really arrived this year.  Nevertheless, most of our guests have found bright intervals to enjoy the area. The last few days have been rain-free which has allowed guest Martin Kessel ( www.kessel.co.uk )  to exercise his photographic skills to great effect. We think he was slightly taken aback to find he didn’t actually need to leave the house to get great shots of the nesting Harriers,  Buzzards, deer etc.    He was really lucky to capture some of the “action” when a marauding Buzzard took too much interest in the tasty meal presented in the Harriers’ nest and was aggessively seen off by the parents.   One photo in particular captured the action, with the Buzzard inverting to protect itself from attack from above ;  see -

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1795216843421.2096587.1329718438&l=0f3119ffe6

Martin now hopes to return to “capture” the young Harriers after they fledge in a couple of weeks, always assuming they stay close to the house, as they did last year.

The work we did to slightly re-design and re-plant the garden two years ago has paid off, with spaces filling in rather quickly. It seems to have been a blaze of colour for months now. This should continue for some time, with the Mock Orange and Poppies in particular about to join in. We took part in the Village Garden Open Weekend last week, to celebrate the village’s 200th Anniversary, and it seemed to have been a great success, raising over £2000 for Marie Curie.  Particulary appreciated seemed to have be the giant Hostas, Iris and Heucheras, but the star attraction was Granny’s giant African Violet.

Talking of flowers, the 100 year old Lady’s Slipper Orchid appeared again       (http://www.cumbria-wildlife.org.uk/ladys_slipper.html), having survived yet another attack after it flowered last year, and the new young plants in Gait Barrows from Kew seem to be prospering.  The Birds-eye Primroses,  close to the lake, don’t seem to have fared quite so well this year.    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primula_farinosa)

Finding the cospicuous black and yellow caterpillars of the Mullein Moth on our, err, Mulleins for the first time this year brought home just how delicate the balance is between surviving and not in the world around us, and how much wild life depends on what we do.  We would like to see more caterpillars on nettles in the area………….

That’s about it for the moment, except to say that Otter pug marks have been seen around the lake again – but no sight of the animals yet.  Also no sightings of the Osprey this year, but we have heard rumours that Natural England are thinking of building a nesting platform by the lake, the timing of which may be apposite, in view of what we have heard about the probable killing of  three  males at Rutland Water.

Spring 2011

The Marsh Harriers are back !  It is fabulous to watch their arial displays.  This morning there were four cavorting over the reed beds.  “Our” pair are already on with renovating the existing nest site, right in front of the house, with the female in particular diving in that unmistakable dramatic fashion into the reeds.  Can’t wait  for the femail to be sitting on her eggs and be fed from the air by the male.

We have had Siskins at the niger seeds most of the winter, but they now seem to have moved on. But replacements are aplenty, including early Swallows, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and an interesting ( and noisy) pairing of a Snow Goose with a Greylag.

Spring is bursting out all around and the triple blossom Cherry Tree by the house will look like a giant puff-ball for the next 10 days. The daffodils have been wonderful this year and the experts say the bluebells should be spectacular.

The lawmower has broken, so we have a deep green forest instead of the usual short sward, thanks to the last of our 20/10/10 !  Oh well, hopefully back to normal next week-end.

2010

Well, what a year 2010 was.

Birds had to be the highlights. The Marsh Harriers which have nested in front of the house now for 4 years produced two youngsters and it was fabulous to watch them learning to fly.  They stayed around the reed bed for about three weeks.

Then there was the Osprey.  A number of guests saw this magnificent bird catching fish in the lake……We are keeping fingers crossed that it will return in 2011, perhaps this time with a mate !

We tend to take for granted our regular local birds, which others might think of as scarce – Bearded Tits, Reed Buntings, Sedge Warblers, Barn and Little Owls, Water Rails etc, and we musn’t forget the Bittern – we were fortunate this year to hear it “booming” from the house in May and then, at the height of the cold spell in December, we managed to get a really good look at one down the road at Leighton Moss RSPB Bird Reserve.

On to other local natural wonders, we were thrilled this year to see the new arrivals of the Lady’s Slipper Orchid, a joint effort by Natural England and Kew Gardens to try to re-introduce a sustainable population in Gait Barrows Nature Reserve ( which is immediately outside our garden fence ).

Our regular group of  lepidopterists from the Upper Thames Valley had an excellent year, cataloguing everything they wanted to see, including Duke of Burgundies and High Browns.  Maybe next time they will glimpse the Netted Carpet Moth……

Once again we had wonderful weather in May and June, and then 6 weeks in a white, crisp winter wonderland to finish off the year – it doesn’t get better than that !

May I take this opportunity to say a big “Thank you” to all our guests, the overwhelming majority of whom make it a pleasure to be of service, and to wish one and all a happy, successful and healthy 2011.

Charlotte.