Trelissick Beach and the creeks of the Fal River are great spots to bring out your binoculars and look for wading birds. We often spot herons, curlew, oystercatchers, grebe, teal, redshank and many others whilst working near the water.
Out in front of Trelissick House, you can see house martins and swallows, swooping and dive-bombing like stunt flyers over the insect-rich grassland and homing in especially on the cow pats that have been colonised by dung beetles. This year we saw our first swallow on the 1st April, which is almost two weeks earlier than usual!
Elsewhere, Tregew is the place to go if you want to see birds that favour fields and hedgerows. The area is rich with goldfinches, linnets, stonechats, and watching our resident buzzards, sparrow hawk or kestrel hunting in the long grass is a riveting – if slightly visceral – way to pass the time.
Spring blossom
The flowering of trees is a real spring-time spectacle and can be enjoyed across the Estate from as early as February, throughout spring and into early summer.
Early on, there are dense clusters of snow-white blackthorn blossom, nectar-rich willow catkins that attract bees, butterflies and birds as well as kea plum blossom in our orchard at Tregew. These are followed by pink and white apple blossom, the creamy (but deathly-smelling) hawthorn flowers and the famous cherry blossom that gave rise to ‘Hanami’, the Japanese cherry blossom festival. Look out too, for musty scented rowan and elderflowers from late May.