Park offers a honking heaven for winter guests
Staff at a Lancashire holiday park are being trained in new ways to attract winter guests. The techniques include making honking sounds, and the placing of decoy visitors around the grounds..
The result, hopes Moss Wood Caravan Park in Cockerham, will be a rise in the population of Greylag Geese which arrive at the park over the winter months.
Park owner Henry Wild says that the aim is to provide the geese with new roosting sites and feeding areas. The birds, he explained, often look for new habitats after making their annual migration to Lancashire from Iceland - and Moss Wood is keen to send out welcoming signals.
These will include the issuing to staff of whistles which replicate honking noise of Greylag Geese, and the placing of decoy birds in adjacent meadows owned by the park.
Imitation geese will also be sited around the wildlife pond which Moss Wood is currently building - in the hope that the birds will see the park as a safe habitat during their winter stay.
The United Kingdom, says Henry, supports almost the entire Icelandic population of Greylag Geese, and the Lancashire coast is one of their favourite destinations.
The region's estuaries, wetlands and fields draw the geese back each year. But often, the younger birds feel the need to ring the changes, and to search out new grassland areas in which to feed.
However, geese are not always welcomed by farmers because of the damage they do to grazing land.
"It would be a great shame if these wonderful birds were to move further away, so we thought we would lay out the green carpet for them," said Henry.
"Greylags are known by country sportsmen to respond to imitation calls and decoys, so we thought we would employ these techniques to draw them here for more peaceful purposes!" he added.
The 22-acre park is closed to visitors in winter, he said, so the birds should be undisturbed.
Moss Wood's goose-guest initiative is among a whole raft of environment-friendly measures taking place on the park which has been owned by the Wild family for over 30 years.
Many indigenous trees and hedges have been planted, and sowings of wild flowers with high pollen-bearing blooms attract a wide range of common and less familiar butterflies.
Conservation "buffer zones" have also been created around the park. These woodlands and meadows, on which no development is allowed, have become wildlife havens for animals and plants. The zones include a small river where threatened water-voles are flourishing, along with other aquatic life.
Moss Wood has won many major national accolades for the excellence of its surroundings, including a top five-star grading from the tourist board - and a special conservation award from David Bellamy who praised the way in which the park was helping holidaymakers to re-connect with the countryside.
"Greylag Geese usually remain faithful to a region unless they feel under threat," said Henry. "Our aim is to assure them that Lancashire is keen to offer its traditional hospitality," he added.
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More press information from Henry Wild on 01524 791041 (mobile 07831 394533)
PR consultant Jon Boston on 01768 895225
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