Going green?

Going Green?

How green are you? It seems to be all the craze these days. The Old Vicarage Guesthouse has just got a Green Tourism award – a silver award at our first attempt! For months now I have observed Maurice and Ruth putting in long life light bulbs, water saving devices in the loos, installing water butts, even replacing old windows with double-glazed units, not to forget a brand new condensing boiler.

Me? I'm all in favour of saving energy. I choose the sunniest spots to lie up in. I don't chase around after the wildlife, I wait for it to come to me! I firmly believe in getting through each day with the least expenditure of energy (I think Maurice is in favour of this approach too). The Old Vicarage has always been wildlife friendly with its ivy covered walls, hedges and some trees including two lovely English Elms. Maurice has put up boxes including a bat box would you believe. This year he went the extra mile with a box for swifts!! So far they have ignored it even though he played a tape of swift calls to try to attract them – what a carry-on!! Swifts are amazing in that they never land on the ground as they can't take off again. Recently we had an exciting incident when a grounded swift was attacked by a territorial starling. I was sleeping in the drawing room and missed all the fun, but apparently the starling was dive-bombing the swift and would have killed it only Maurice intervened and saved it (see photo). He put it in a bag to recover and later released it from a top floor window and it flew away and rejoined its family in the streets nearby. For more information on swifts look up London swifts

So, here's to more “green” tourists and more wildlife to enjoy around the Old Vicarage. Maurice and Ruth will even help with bird-watching trips in North Northumberland and the Borders. We have great places within easy reach such as Holy Island (Lindisfarne NNR); St. Abb's Head; and the lovely valleys of the Cheviots. Must go and check up on the birds in the garden again.

Findlay.