flying to bring in food for its young

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 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.

Roe deer and hares can be seen from the windows of the cottages.

Easter offers

Bothy which sleeps 2 from Good Friday 29th March to Thursday 4th April for £270. Then from Sunday 7th April to Saturday 13th April at £299

Castle Cottage which sleeps 6 from 6th April to 13th April at £ 400.

Pets welcome.

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.

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.

Availability.

The Steward’s Cottage which sleeps 4 from 23rd March to 30th March £415 per week.

The Castle Cottage which sleeps 6 from April 6th to April15th  £499 per week

The Bothy and Crofter’s which sleeps 2 each from 30th March until April 15th at £350 per week.

Short breaks are available in all cottages. The badgers are very active at the moment.Great viewing on the CCTV channels as seen in the cottages.

Take advantage of late availability with a 10% discount.

Spring is very much in the air. The birds are very busy looking out for nesting sites and singing for a mate. The Buzzards have already paired up and nest building is on their minds.

The badgers are being very romantic and are seen a lot on the CCTV.

Our snow drops are beautiful at the moment and can be seen along the river walk

We have put up new bird feeders by the cottages. They are attracting lovely flocks of Gold Finches.

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!

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

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.