NATUREWATCH AT WHITELEE HOLIDAY COTTAGES
Enjoy a unique wildlife experience during your stay at Whitelee. CCTV cameras installed around the farm bring live images of barn owls and other birds, badgers and foxes direct to the television in your cottage so that with a click of the remote you have your very own 'Naturewatch'. At night, Infra-red lighting ensures that you can watch the comings and goings of the nocturnal wildlife without causing them any disturbance.
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| This charming photo of a badger |
| was taken by one of our visitors, |
| Jason Thorpe, who kindly allowed us |
| to use It here. Badgers are largely |
| nocturnal and so have poor |
| eyesight. They love peanuts! |
Watch from the comfort of your armchair as badgers and foxes come to a feeding station to feed and barn owls and swallows rear their chicks. Nature, of course, is unpredictable, and so we can never guarantee what is going to be happening on the 'Naturewatch' cameras at any given time, but we hope there will always be something to excite, fascinate and surprise anyone with an interest in wildlife.
Whitelee is rich in birdlife and a feeding station in your cottage garden brings a variety of birds within view of your windows, among them,greenfinches, chaffinches, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, siskins and nuthatches. In the trees and hedges around the cottages are blackbirds, thrushes, robins, dunnocks, treecreepers and wrens, and among the summer visitors to the farm are dozens of swallows and house martins, oystercatchers, curlews, golden plovers, sand martins, willow warblers and many more. Nest boxes around the cottages are occupied by blue tits, great tits and starlings and there are also roosting boxes for bats which can been seen hunting at dusk through the spring and summer. A gentle stroll with your binoculars will reward you with a wealth of sitings.
An RSPB warden stayed with us one summer and below is a list of the birds he identified during his stay around the farm and its immediate vicinity. Come to stay and see if you can add to the list.
Further afield, Northumberland contains an amazing diversity of habitats which attract many different species of birds. These habitats range from offshore islands and muddy estuaries to
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| Red squirrel by Jason Thorpe |
The birds which can be seen vary widely with the seasons - some only come here in the summer to breed; others only spend wintertime here; whilst others again only use the County as a staging post in their great journeys around the world. Each one of these factors help the give Northumberland one of the richest and most varied birdlife in the country. To many, it is simply a bird watcher's paradise.
The seabirds of Northumberland are one of its greatest bird watching asset. Many different species come to the various offshore islands throughout the summer to breed before departing for their various winter homes and a trip to the Farne Islands is a must. You'll see puffin, guillemot, shag, kittiwake, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern and Arctic Tern all nesting close at hand, but, be warned, wear a hat!
Whitelee Farm on the BBC
Have a look at these web sites about Whitelee Farm when it featured on BBC's programme " Nature's Calendar"
www.bbc.co.uk/naturescalendar/spring/grasslands/whitelee/whitelee_access.shtml
www.bbc.co.uk/naturescalendar/spring/grasslands/whitelee/whitelee.shtml
Whitelee Farm and Northumberland National Park
Read what the National Park have to say about Whitelee Farm
www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/news-article.htm?newsid=8291
Whitelee Farm and Wiggly Wigglers
Wiggly Wigglers have been supplying our bird food for many years. If you're interested in encouraging wildlife into your garden, you'll find their website carries some exciting and very interesting products.
http://wigglywigglers.blogspot.com/
Northern Experience Wildlife Tours
If you are interested in exclusive natural history excursions with an enthusiastic, experienced and friendly leader with an intimate knowledge of northern Britain and its wildlife, contact Northern Experience Wildlife Tours. Prices range from £30 per adult for a 2-3 hour Mini Safari to £100 per person for a 6-8 hour Prestige Tour.
Shepherds Walks
For the complete Northumbrian walking experience join in with a guided walk.
SUMMER BIRDS ON WHITELEE
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| Barn owl | Mistle thrush | |
| Blackbird | Oystercatcher | |
| Blue tit | Partridge | |
| Buzzard | Peregrine falcon | |
| Carrion crow | Pheasant | |
| Chaffinch | Pied wagtail | |
| Coal tit | Raven | |
| Collared dove | Reed bunting | |
| Common sandpiper | Robin | AND CLOSE TO WHITELEE |
| Cuckoo | Rook | Blackcap |
| Curlew | Sand martin | Black-headed gull |
| Dipper | Sedge warbler | Chiffchaff |
| Dunnock | Siskin | Crossbill |
| Feral pigeon | Skylark | Goldcrest |
| Garden warbler | Snipe | Great black-backed gull |
| Golden plover | Song thrush | Green woodpecker |
| Goldfinch | Sparrow hawk | House sparrow |
| Goosander | Spotted flycatcher | Lapwing |
| Great spotted woodpecker | Starling | Linnet |
| Great tit | Stonechat | Magpie |
| Greenfinch | Swallow | Moorhen |
| Grey wagtail | Tawny owl | Mute swan |
| Hen harrier | Wheatear | Shoveler |
| Heron | Whinchat | Swift |
| House martin | Willow warbler | Teal |
| Kestrel | Wood pigeon | Tree pipit |
| Mallard | Wren | Tufted duck |
| Meadow pipit | Yellowhammer |