Some of you may be wondering "what has happened to the September stone-curlew chicks?"

I will be honest with you here.... we don't truly know. On return from my holiday, I made a visit to the plot to search for the birds, but could not find even one bird. Now, stone-curlew can be hard to find at the best of times, so I did not give up hope straight away, I revisited later on in the week, but...still no birds…

Hello All,

Having just got back from 2 weeks annual leave in Brittany (lovely!) I feel like the blog has been slightly neglected over the past couple of weeks... Especially given that we have a major news flash to give out!

Just before I set off on holiday, Michael, one of the farm workers reported something very unexpected - young stone-curlew chicks on one of the plots! We had hoped that some of our pairs might try…

One of the nicest parts of my job is getting the opportunity to get close to wildlife, and sometimes I get the privilege of getting really close! Today we had a visit from a chap called Matt, who works for the Hawk Conservancy Trust. The trust has donated two barn owl boxes which we have up in the reserve, and Matt visits them a few times through the year to see if they are being used. On the last visit in July, he found…

Don't forget it's out Harvest Walk this Sunday! Meeting for a 10am start from the RSPB Winterbourne Downs Carpark, just outside Newton Tony. We will be taking you off the beaten path, and giving you an insight in to the year on the farm - from sheep to wheat and everything in between! It would be great to see you there!

The Nature of Farming Awards, a national competition run by the RSPB for wildlife friendly farmers, is in its last week of voting. If you have not done so already, will you help us by giving your vote?

Voting is very easy - just go to www.rspb.org.uk/farmvote and vote for your favorite farmer. There are four to choose from, including Wiltshire Farmer Henry Edmunds, who we work very closely with, and who we are supporting…

Ever seen one of these before? This cute and fluffy creature is a Hornet Robber Fly. They are a Biodiversity Action plan species, meaning they are a priority for conservation. This particular specimen was found in our Farm Managers conservatory, but are they usually found living on heath and downland, and are especially associated with dung, where they lay their eggs. Hornet Robber Flies are hunters, feeding on unsuspecting…

Join us for our annual Harvest Walk on Sunday 2nd September. We will be meeting at the Winterbourne Downs Carpark at 10am for a walk around the reserve to look for the late summer flowers and butterflies. We will also be joined by the farm manager who will tell us about the highs and lows on the farm this year. The event is free, just bring yourself and a suitable footwear for walking across fields.

To view the poster…

This pile of large yellow underwing moths was found the other day in the doorway of one of our old farm buildings. All that remains of the moths are the wings, the legs and the head – the juicy body parts have been eaten!

So, what made this pile of yellow underwing body parts? At first I put it down to swallows, as the remains lie near where the birds nest. It looked like the birds had taken a liking for these…

Our local farmer, Henry Edmunds of Cholderton Estate, has reached the final 4 in the national Nature of Farming Awards!! Henry does an incredible amount for wildlife on his estate, and works very closely with the RSPB, including the staff at Winterbourne Downs. Of course, we think he deserves to win, and it would be great if you could help us by voting for him. You can do this by following this link to the RSPB website…

The sun looks like it will be shining this Sunday, so why not make the most of the fine weather by coming out and enjoying your local RSPB nature reserve - we will be on the hunt for our magnificent butterflies!

We are holding the butterfly discovery walk from 2pm on Sunday 15th July at RSPB Winterbourne Downs, and we will be looking to see how many types of butterfly we can find, while learning some amazing facts about…

Yesterday I made the most of the fine weather to work out how many of our 10 stone-curlew chicks made it to fledging. It has been a tough season for stone-curlew, and indeed all ground nesting birds. The prolonged rain means that incubating birds get water logged, and eggs get chilled. Small chicks are vulnerable to getting cold and wet too, and the parents struggle to keep the chicks sheltered from the elements.

It…

Now is the perfect time to visit the reserve, as our wildflower meadow is looking beautiful. The yellows and gold’s of April and May are giving way to dusky pinks and blues, and the meadow is now a sea of colour. The flowers don’t just come in beautiful colours, they  also come in all shapes and sizes. There are stands of Viper's Bugloss, deep blue spires of flowers, towering over the grassland. Greater Knapweed…

The wet weather has been making life difficult to get all our jobs done on the reserve, as many of them require dry conditions. However, a window of a few dry days meant we could finally get round to shearing our very woolly ewes! We need the weather to be warm and dry, partly so the sheep don’t get too much of a shock when their fleece comes off, but also because shearing a soggy sheep is very hard work. So on Tuesday…

Last week I was joined by members of the RSPB South Wiltshire Local group, for a walk around the reserve to see how the chalk grassland reversions were progressing, and to hunt for the elusive stone-curlew! We all had our fingers crossed that the rain would hold off at least until the end of the walk, but we soon felt the first few splodges of rain falling on our heads. However, sporadic bursts of rain showers were not…

This week we decided it was time to carry out some essential stone-curlew plot management. A bit of warm and sunny weather has meant the “weeds” on the fallow plots have gone in to a growing frenzy. Stone-curlew can have several breeding attempts within a season but the plots need to be in a suitable condition if they are to do so – that is, bare and open. It also makes our life much easier when we are trying to monitor…

Hello, and a very warm welcome to the Winterbourne Downs "Blog"

This first blog comes to you in the middle of a very busy breeding season. Now that things are settling down a bit, there is a lot to tell you about!

Winterbourne Downs is a sanctuary for a very special bird, the stone-curlew. These birds require fallow plots to breed on, and we have created 7 plots here on the farm. This year, five of the plots…