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goosemoor organic produce |
Warfield Lane, Cowthorpe |
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Download this week's Pick of the Crop Price List or the latest Grocery Popu-List Our latest newsletter Links to external sources of info NEWS: Mar 08: Goosemoor wins Best Green Business award! Mar 08: Goosemoor is the only Yorkshire supplier in Times Top 35! Feb 08: check out Where does the produce come from? Jan 08: What is the difference between Organic eggs and Free-Range? |
Organic farming supports wildlifeHow was the Nature Reserve created?Two acres of our farm have been designated as a conservation area which is managed with help from the local Wildlife Explorers (the junior branch of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). Several years ago we extended both the area and the depth of the original pond to prevent it drying up during the summer, which has enabled us to attract a greater range of wildlife. More recently with funding derived from the Landfill Tax we have built 2 hides from which to view the wildlife. The larger hide next to the lane is always open, and the smaller hide is available to pre-booked groups who can also borrow binoculars, scopes and identification guides. What plants have we encouraged?Over a hundred trees have been planted as well as many metres of hedging, all native species including alder, bird cherry, blackthorn, goat willow, hawthorn, rowan, silver birch, oak, sessile oak, and wild cherry. We rescued a clump of yellow iris from land that is now under the tarmac of the Harrogate Southern Bypass, and we are rewarded every spring with a glorious display of brilliant yellow. The pond supports watercress, water mint, & bulrush; the surrounding marshy area is home to cuckoo flower, water figwort & marsh marigold. What birds & animals live here?Survival of the raptors such as kestrels depends on maintaining a healthy population of small mammals such as mice, voles and rabbits. Our farm also supports weasels, stoats, moles, hedgehogs, and in 2002 we had a young hare who periodically raced the fork-lift through the yard!
Ornithological residents include blackbird, blue tit, bullfinch, chaffinch, collared dove, coal tit, coot, dunnock, goldfinch, great tit, greenfinch, green woodpecker, house martin, jay, kestrel, lapwing, little owl, long-tailed tit, mallard, marsh tit, mistle thrush, moorhen, pheasant, pied wagtail, pied woodpecker, red-tailed partridge, robin, snipe, song thrush, sparrowhawk, spotted flycatcher, starling, swallow, tawny owl, tufted duck, whitethroat, woodpigeon, wren and yellowhammer. Visitors include Canada goose, curlew, green woodpecker, heron, mute swan, oystercatcher, shelduck, and even Red Kites! Red KitesRed Kites have not nested in Yorkshire for over 100 years following undeserved persecution in the nineteenth century from landowners. TheYorkshire Red Kite Project released about 30 young kites at Harewood in July 1999, and much to our delight a few days later, one of the bolder youngsters was seen in the skies over Goosemoor, and was tracked by the RSPB around the nearby villages. However to our sorrow it was found poisoned near Malton later in the year. More recently we were visited by one of the red kites in early February 2003, and watched it being mobbed by crows as it circled over nearby woodland. In mid-March 2003 we spotted another (or the same?) kite over the nature reserve itself. Supporting YOUR wildlifeIf you would like to encourage birds in your backyard, you can buy bird food from Harrogate Wildlife Explorers |
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As a result of extending the pond, we were able to re-home 150
Great Crested Newts which had been rescued from a dried-up quarry in Harrogate.
We also have common newts in various damp places around the farm.