By William Coleman

Due to being humans and moving about quite a bit we do tend to encroach onto a lot of areas that houses wildlife. Knowing the effects that holiday sites can have on nature this Lancs park is going to extreme measures to help the local wildlife, and even live stream some dramatic wildlife goings on.

Guests were left agog this spring at Moss Wood holiday park near Lancaster where the undercover secrets of a tiny bird were screened live for all to see.

Star of the show was a great tit which had chosen one of the park’s bird boxes to make its nest, little suspecting that it was going to be under constant CCTV surveillance.

For the box had been fitted with a miniature covert camera which will stream wireless a 24-hour video feed to a monitor screen in the park’s reception building.

Guests were able to watch the great tit carefully build its nest, and then to lay four brown-speckled white eggs upon which it sat while its male partner brought regular deliveries of food.

Fourteen days later, to everyone’s delight, the pair were rewarded with four great tit chicks.

Henry Wild, whose family has owned Moss Wood for over 40 years, said the unfurling drama was thrilling to watch, and was especially enjoyed by younger holiday guests:

“We’re very fortunate here to have a very wide range of resident and visiting birdlife, but great tits often nest in tree cavities, so can’t normally be observed at close quarters,” said Henry.

“They are very distinctive birds with their white cheeks and yellow underparts, and our camera gave a rare opportunity to study the bird close-up and to witness its amazing nest-building skills.

“Many of the children here were fascinated, and hopefully will be inspired to go on and make other wildlife discoveries in our grounds,” he added.

Last year, Moss Wood was shortlisted in the Lancashire Tourism Awards in the “sustainable tourism” category. thanks to its exceptional efforts to protect the natural world.

The park, situated in the village of Cockerham, recently became home to more than 100,000 honey bees after it installed three traditional timber hives in its grounds.

Their thriving future is assured thanks to the large number of high nectar-bearing blooms at Moss Wood, including a 3000 square-foot wildflower wilderness.

The bees are sharing their food sources with many types of butterflies and other pollinators, and there are plans to harvest the honey for sale in the park’s shop.

Moss Wood also has launched its own craft brewery beer, and every bottle sold is providing a cash donation for the British Beekeepers Association education charity.

Other natural attractions at Moss Wood include a 1.5km nature discovery trail, a spring-fed lake attracting many bird species, and events such as pond dipping and bat-walks.

The park provides holiday caravans for sale, and pitches for motorhomes and touring caravans. There is more information about Moss Wood Caravan Park at www.mosswood.co.uk.

By William Coleman

In the news and on social media recently you may have seen some public unrest over the choice McDonald’s made to remove all plastic straws from their branches to help reduce the increasing wave of plastic pollution. Now it seems the world is embracing this eco spirit as one site bans the plastic straw to stop further damage to the environment.

I think by now we have all seen the images and videos animals in the world who have been killed due to the plastic straw. Following the recent shift in straw usage Trevornick Holiday Park in Holywell Bay are encouraging guests to join them in going green this year.

The five-star family caravan and campsite, located behind the sand dunes at Holywell Bay, was the first in Newquay to install Oltco walkways made from a combination of recycled plastic drink bottles, food packaging and straws.

Being fully aware of the impact they have with their usage of plastic, the area surrounding the pool used the equivalent of nearly 100,000 straws alone, they are now taking a stand to do all they can to reduce their plastic usage.

This sustainable re-use of materials can be seen throughout the business as they continue to increase their efforts in becoming even more environmentally friendly.

The park has joined the Final Straw campaign, replacing plastic straws in the three onsite bars with paper alternatives.

Staff also organise their own beach cleans on Holywell Bay to ensure the location and its wildlife remain unharmed by plastic waste, whilst also encouraging guests to adopt this mindset and asking them to leave the beach as they find it.

“We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world and it is our responsibility to ensure it remains this way,” said Trevornick Park Manager Adrian Tribe.

“We have all benefited from the increase in tourism as a result of hit TV shows like BBC’s Poldark much of which was filmed at Holywell Bay and we feel we have a duty to highlight the dangers of single use plastic and its effect on our beautiful coastline.

“This year we have introduced initiatives such as the ‘Drop & Swap’ station where guests can leave their beach toys and bodyboards to reduce this type of waste, as well as joining the ‘Re-Fill’ app which highlights locations nearby where people can fill up their water bottles,” he added.

Other measures the park are taking to reduce their single use plastic waste and improve their recycling capabilities includes easy access to recycling points throughout the campsite for camping and touring guests and trialling recycling waste such as crisp packets and bottle tops which aren’t widely recycled and can be made into things such as children’s play parks.