First visit of the year now that the freezing weather has abated and there was a smidgen of sun. The stork’s are back and nesting already. There is now such a density of storks around the estate that you can not miss them even if you aren’t looking for them, with 2 or 3 nests … Read more The Storks of Knepp
So it’s twixtmas, that means it’s time for the crazy , traffic riddled journey up to North Norfolk to see the baby grey seals again. First up this week is the lovely walk along Waxham Beach, taking great care not to get too close to any seals who have nestled themselves between the rocks. There … Read more Annual pilgrimage for Norfolk Seals
I can’t remember the last time we saw red squirrels.
On our last trip to our “go to” place for these little auburn creatures, Brownsea Island, we drew a blank.
Multiple Wales trips; the isles or Arran and Mull in Scotlan all resulted in no shows.
So, when we stopped off at this little forest in the Yorkshire Dales on our way up to Mull again, I didn’t have the highest of hopes.
Wood mouse?
Well, I was wrong to be so negative, because there were red squirrels here in abundance and they were not shy on putting on a show for us. The kids absolutely loved it and watched them in absolute amazement and excitement. We will surely be back again!
Just catching up on a recent visit to the rewilding project at Knepp. It’s less than an hour for home and we wanted to go back to see how the storcks were doing.
Knepp is one our favourite places to visit and is somewhere where you are always, always guaranteed to see something! We went for the storks, but saw so much more.
Coming in to landA comma butterflyRoe deer, right below the stork’s nestTwo mouths to feedA red admiral
There’s been a new car park built since we last visited, complete with a new mobile cafe, so you can refresh and stock up before you head off on a walk. They’re also in the process of building a brand new cafe/restaurant and farm shop at this site. The plans do look very impressive, although I’m a little apprehensive about what the impact of attracting more visitors will have on the wildife. Lets see.
Just on the walk down from the car park to the trail (we chose the white trail this time, which takes you past most of the stork nesting sites), we saw an exsquisite Beautiful Damoiselle and then coming up to the farm buildings, there was sure enough our first siting of a stork’s nest, complete with two chicks visible. We saw a whole host of various butterflies, roe deer and a tamworth pig, with 4 piglets all feeding from the sow.
A slow worm, wasn’t very slowMust get back, the kids are starvingBits and pieces for the nestStork in flight
On the loop, we found more stork nests (even two in one tree), lots of roe deer and, for the first time in years, a slow worm, just wriggling it’s way along the path. Incredible.#
Knepp really does not dissapoint and I’m sure we’ll be back again soon.
See Wildlife 