Rushcroft Farm

26/01/2025

Four more beauties arrived today, so adorable ❤️🥰

24/01/2025

Spring must be just around the corner, first kid born this morning🥰

22/01/2025

It is breeding season for the foxes. You may have heard the blood-curdling calls at night?
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They pair up and hunt and roam together for a few weeks before mating to strengthen the bond. Foxes create strong emotional bonds and tend to stay with their partner for life and only find another breeding partner if death occurs and after a time of mourning.
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The V***n will dig a new nursery den to "earth down", which is normally amongst tree roots or between rock crevices, and sometimes using one end of a badger sett while the badgers use the other or commonly under sheds.
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After a gestation period of approximately 50 days the cubs are born blind, deaf and defenseless in early spring. They rely on their mothers milk and for the first two weeks she does not leave the den while the dog fox brings her food.
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At about 4 to 5 weeks old the cubs are strong enough to start venturing from the den and their brown coat starts to turn red. They also start to play and tumble but this can sometimes be very rough and can even mean a fight to the death to establish their position in the pack and it is not unusual for the more developed to eat their killed siblings. V***n's within the family unit who have not bred that year often help rear the cubs to give them the best possible chance.
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During October/November time the braver of the siblings venture off to establish their own territory while others stay within the strength of the family unit. Many of these brave young foxes don't make it as they are hit by cars, die of starvation or cold. Over half the population of foxes die in their first year with 80% dying before they turn 3 years old. Often by December most of the offspring have dispersed before breeding season starts once again with the exception of a few vixen's that stay on to help raise the next generation.
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Foxes tend to rest above ground during the day finding a sunny spot to snooze in tucked amongst foliage, or the lucky ones amongst us who have them visiting gardens may spot one snoozing in the middle of the lawn, be proud that these beautiful mammals feel safe under your watch 💖

06/01/2025

Looking forward to 2025 and welcoming visitors to the farm. Our small peaceful campsite is open from 1st July to 1st September and our cosy cottages are open all year.
To make a booking visit our web site at www.rushcroft-farm.co.uk

05/01/2025

Happy New Year

21/12/2024

December’s wildlife highlights in The New Forest

While December is a time of celebration for us, life can be hard for wildlife in the winter. For many small birds and mammals, finding enough food to survive takes up almost every hour of daylight. The winter solstice, sometimes called Midwinter Day, occurs on 21 December this year: this is the shortest day in the calendar.

The foxes’ mating season is beginning, and you might hear the eerie screams and wails of the females and the barking ‘wow-wow-wow’ calls of the males.

Both male and female robins hold a territory throughout the cold wintry months, and both therefore regularly sing at this time of year. Some other birds have winter territories too, including the grey plovers (a type of wader) that feed on coastal mudflats. Tawny owls (main photo) are approaching their noisiest period: listen out for their hoots as they begin their courtship displays.

Many birds roost together for warmth and safety. These include starlings, finches, winter-visiting thrushes, rooks, jackdaws, carrion crows, pied wagtails and even wrens. The best time to track down bird roosts is from an hour before sunset, when you can see numerous birds all flying in the same direction towards their communal sites.

Even in midwinter, you can still find a few flowers on the heathland gorse bushes and on the butcher’s broom (an evergreen shrub) in the woodlands. Most fungi fruiting bodies have been killed off by the cold, but bracket fungi on trees such as birch are often much tougher and last from one year to the next.

Broad-leaved trees are now leafless and the shape of their trunks and branches is more obvious. See if you can identify them by their shape, the texture of their bark and by the colour, shape and arrangement of their buds.

Evergreens are of course still green in winter — look especially for conifers such as pines and spruces (including the Norway Spruce that is the traditional Christmas tree). Holly, ivy and mistletoe also have leaves through the winter and often feature in our Christmas celebrations. Only the female holly tree has red berries and many of these will already have been eaten by the birds.

Mistletoe is parasitic; it does have leaves that photosynthesise, but it also takes water and nutrients from its host tree. Its fruits are food for birds that also spread the seeds to other trees where they may take root.

Very few insects fly around in December. The exception may be clouds of male gnats dancing in the hope of attracting a passing female. Most insects pass the winter as eggs, larvae or pupae.

With so much of our “day” taken up by night time, a clear sky in December is well worth making the most of the opportunity for some star gazing, with the added bonus of the Geminid meteor shower whose meteors are very bright, moderately fast, and are unusual in being multi-coloured – mainly white, some yellow and a few green, red and blue. In 2024, the Geminid meteor shower will be active between 4-20 December and will peak on 14-15 December, at which time over 100 meteors per hour may be seen.

During mild winter weather, bats and hedgehogs will break their hibernation to forage for food. Sadly it’s believed that between 30 and 60 percent of bats and hedgehogs do not make it through to spring — although too late for the creatures this winter, it’s worth buying a friend (or yourself) a hedgehog hibernation box for Christmas, ready for next year!

14/12/2024

Beautiful sunset this evening

21/11/2024

The girls in their winter coats 🥰

11/11/2024

Beautiful little animals that need our help to survive 🥰

19/08/2024

Gina looking very grand ❤️

01/07/2024

Our new terraces are the perfect place to relax, soak up the sunshine and enjoying the birds singing

29/04/2024

Please read this information and protect our free roaming New Forest Ponies for all to enjoy

Sorry, there is a lot of information in one post!!!

This week has been busy for the New Forest Young Commoners and ourselves to get these signs out on the main roads through the New Forest. The foals are popping out now all over the place, and now is the time we ask any and everyone who drives across ANY road to drive with even more care. We always say a pony has the road sense of a two year old, Foals have absolutely no road sense. So our best advice is,

Pass Wide And Slow.

Don't drive up too close to any livestock. Give yourself space to manoeuvre around them, they will not move for you!

Be late, rather than have an accident.

NEVER TRY TO PET OR FEED THEM. It is now an offence under a Public Spaces Protection Order to do so, and you can be fined for doing it. So enjoy them, but KEEP YOUR DISTANCE.

If you are unlucky enough to be involved in an accident you must call 999...even if the animal runs off.

Please share to help spread the message. (if sharing from a page that doesn't have a share option, please click on the orginal post and share from there)

One click could save an animals life!!

27/04/2024

Please be aware that while the stallions are running the forest and the mares are in season, they may have their mind on "other things" and will be more on their toes than usual. Please be mindful about keeping your distance and dogs under control, for the safety of them and you 🐎🐎🐎

30/03/2024

Riding out in the New Forest today with sunshine, beautiful warm sunshine, spring has arrived 🌞
www.rushcroft-farm.co.uk

28/03/2024

The rare breed English Kids are out exploring now. Come and stay in one of our comfortable cottages or the cosy shepherds hut (seen in the background) and meet all the animals.
www.rushcroft-farm.co.uk

06/03/2024

Owl Barn, refurbished and looking great. We have availability this month if you would like a farm break in the New Forest and meet our bouncy English kids
www.rushcroft-farm.co.uk

02/03/2024

Hard day at the office!! 😍

29/02/2024

Our English kids are getting very inquisitive now 🥰 and looking forward to meeting all our guests this year.
www.rushcroft-farm.co.uk