Posted on behalf of Derek Gruar, Senior Research Assistant at Hope Farm

Starlings are often described as a “marmite” bird you either “love them or hate them”. I’m very much the former and find them endlessly fascinating. Lately the profile of starlings has increased markedly with natural history programmes and even TV commercials using the allure of murmurations where thousands of starlings perform breath-taking pre…

May and June is our busiest time of year in terms of visitors and events that Hope Farm. We are yet to take a visitor on a walk since May without the sun beating down upon us, which could be both a positive and a negative. As a positive, in true British style, anybody coming along is pleased to make the most of any warmth outside as you never know if another 3 months of rain is hiding around the corner, but as a negative…