Press Mains self catering & holiday cottages by Coldingham and St Abbs
Fantastic holiday accommodation in the Scotish Borders
The cameras in the cottages have great viewing.The Buzzard has hatched one chick so far.
The Blue Tit has started to lay her eggs.
The Black bird chicks have hatched and the parents are very busy bringing in worms to feed them.
Stay at Press Mains this week 18th May and have a 15% discount.
The glorious Easter weekend saw our guests otter watching as our resident friend munched his favourite frogs on the pond! Some were fortunate enough to get some rather excellent close-ups, so watch this space for fabulous wildlife photographs.
The recent Border Tourism Fair at Springwood Park in Kelso has proved invaluable in making contact with other local tourism businesses, allowing Press Mains to further recommend a wonderful variety of activities, attractions and products within the Scottish Borders to our visitors.
The Sea Bird Centre, just along the coast at North Berwick is a great favourite of ours and they are kind enough to send us weekly updates on sealife sightings on and in the water as well as the surrounding coastline. This is a fabulous addition to offer our guests who quite often take the short drive from Press Mains, to the centre, for wonderful wildlife photographic opportunities.
As Spring has well and truly sprung, we look forward to welcoming our regular guests and new faces to Press Mains Cottages over the coming weeks to share with us the beauty of the Scottish Borders.
The resident wildlife at Press Mains has been very busy these last few days, preparing their nests for the arrival of this year’s offspring.
The Press Mains badgers have been extremely active on the CCTV; much to our guests’ delight; with a lot of bedding material being bundled down in their setts – visitors in the coming period shall hopefully see the fruits of their labour when the babies arrive.
We still have some availability for self catering in our luxurious cottages over the Easter period, when our Berwickshire wildlife is in full flourish, so please do call or email to enquire.
To take full advantage of our beautiful surroundings and the abundance of wildlife, we work with Ron McCombe, a local photographer, who takes wonderfully inspiring images around Press Mains. He also runs photographic workshops and his images can be purchased through us or via his website:
http://www.wildlife-photography.uk.com/blog/
We look forward to welcoming you and your family to Press Mains Cottages, where you can experience the closeness of nature and watch badgers from your cottage.
The weather has been mainly dry, sunny and remarkably mild until last night when we had a light covering of snow, which just serves to make our surrounding countryside even more beautiful, although spare a thought for the poor daffodils and snowdrops which had already put in an appearance beneath the hedgerows and lining the estate driveway.
Farm work has been as busy and productive as always with the spraying of our arable crops to keep the weeds down and planting of new wheat has now taken place in some of our fields, marking a new season dawning.
Our guests in recent weeks have very much enjoyed taking part in our red squirrel/grey squirrel Press Mains challenge! We are aiming to monitor the visiting of our squirrel feeders, to establish if visited by reds or greys or a mixture of both, from the fur they leave behind on small sticky pads on the feed box.
Children just love the challenge and joining in our hunt for our now elusive red squirrels which used to be present in abundance at Press Mains but populations seem to have dwindled in recent years….perhaps the greys are chasing them away?
Will leave with our amateur detectives to establish! Come and join in the fun – we still have some availability in our luxurious cottages over the Easter break, which is a gorgeous time to visit us here at Press Mains.
A buzzard surveys the cottages
The numerous nesting boxes around the Estate have been emptied in preparation for the breeding season – hopefully they shall all be home once again to the great variety of bird life we have on and around the farm and cottages.
Our popular feeders at the house and beside the cottages have been proving a busy attraction for Gold Finches, Siskins and a Greater Spotted Wood Pecker, this week – all regular visitors, taking advantage of the tasty treats inside!
Another common sight this week has been our buzzards, fling low over the farmland, no doubt in search of lunch. These large birds are instantly recognisable and a popular sighting from the windows of the cottages.
Should you happen to be visiting or staying on one of our cottages this week, you may also catch a glimpse of the heron which fish for their food on the farm pond – makes a fantastic photo as they are very photogenic!
Have a bottle of bubbly and locally made chocolates on us when you stay at Press Mains for a romantic break in February.
Bothy available from 9th February
Crofter’s from 13th February
The Stewards’s Cottage from 9th February.
Valentines break at £70 per night for 2
Do you have the January blues?
Why not treat yourselves to break at Press Mains.
There is nothing better than an embracing walk along the beach, to return to a roaring log fire in a luxury cottage, to make you feel alive again.
This time of year of year you have the beaches and the countryside to your selves.
The wildlife is very to see. We have a winter roost of short eared owls nearby along with many other winter bird migrants.
Stay with us from just £65 per night for 2.
We have availalblity over Christmas and New Year.
Enjoy roaring log fires and the decorated home grown Christmas tree.
Prices start from £400 for the week. Short breaks are also availalble.
If you can not stay with us over the feastive season why not treat your selves to a winter short break.
Dogs are welcome too!
We have been having fantastic viewing of the otters, both during the day and after dark. Here are some pictures we took this week.
Enjoy a short break through December for just £65 per night.
September is my favourite time of year. The weather has improved for walking. There is nothing better then returning to the cottage to enjoy a roaring log fire.
The Scottish Borders becomes a quiet haven. The wildlife watching is great. The Roe Deer are in their breeding colours of rustic brown, the buzzards are feeding their young with talon to talon feeding. The swallows are all gathering for their migration south.Winter migrants are arriving. Why not take a photographic work shop while you stay at Press Mains with Ron McCombe.
The Bothy is availalbe from Saturday 1st until Saturday 15th. Crofter’s Cottage from 1st September to Saturday 8th
Castle Cottage which sleeps 6 available for 6 nights 8th to 14th September. Take a short break or stay as long as you like.
This is a brilliant time for bird watching.
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