It doesn’t seem a year since we made the decision to take a trip to the country. Yet here we are, twelve months since our first visit to the glorious Cotswold countryside and about to return for a second spring.
The was a far cry from our usual spring sojourns – the wild coastal nature reserves where the only inhabitants were the animals.
Sherborne is a Gloucestershire village surrounded by a network of working farms and is home, we have found, to a group of unbelievably generous residents. They have opened their homes, farms and gardens to us and made us feel part of the community.
Enjoy the majesty of what Sherborne had to offer in 2017
Even so, last year there was no certainty that the wildlife would appear – the area could not boast the great numbers of nesting birds or other wildlife guaranteed at other UK reserves. We were not disappointed however.
Sherborne delivered on every level. We found kites, buzzards, kestrels, badgers, kingfishers, hares, rabbits, stoats… the list goes on.
We’ve watched the seasons change since May 2017 – from the ethereal mayfly dancing above the Sherborne river in spring to the frenzied mating of the lesser horseshoe bats in late autumn – every visit has brought its thrills. And so with those memories still fresh in our minds, there is a spring in our step as we set off for Sherborne once more this week.
What do we hope for this time around? We’ve stretched our camera cables just that little bit further down to some of the Sherborne fields managed specifically for wildlife. The ground nesting farmland birds were slightly elusive last time so next week we’re hoping to find them nesting – sky lark or yellow hammers – we’d be happy with either, we’d be delirious if we found both. Whatever we film we know there will be plenty of stories to uncover – there’s already been sightings of grass snakes eyeing up a moorhen nest so there’s drama assured.
Please do join us on Monday May 28th at 8pm for our 90 minute Bank Holiday Special, when the adventure begins…
For many, the sound of spring.