Adventure Farm & Nature Reserve - a birding 'must'
Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:01 pm
We had lunch today with Newton George, Tobago’s leading specialist bird watching guide. He mentioned that he is increasingly ending his rainforest and other birding tours with a visit to the Adventure Farm & Nature Reserve on the Arnos Vale Road at Plymouth.
We are staying at Arnos Vale currently and know how outstanding the bird watching has always been here. Of course in years gone by afternoon tea at the Arnos Vale Hotel was one of those ‘musts’ that every visitor automatically did. The tea was always pretty awful, but the birds were a different story. In recent years, with the virtual demise of the hotel, they have not been looked after in the manner they would expect and both the tea and the birds are now a rather sad experience.
Ean Mackay, the owner of Adventure Farm & Nature Reserve has always been passionate about ecology and bird life and has turned his 12-acre organic fruit farm over to a full reserve. In recent years he has concentrated hard on providing the right environment and feeding for the birds – and hummingbirds in particular – and now offers a truly wonderful spectacle throughout the day. An increasing number of birding guides are ending tours there, but it is the one place where visitors are guaranteed to see example of a wide range of birds.
Returning to our villa, we decided to call in. Wow! In the 20 minutes we were there we saw four of the six species of hummer that live on Tobago. I was told that five of the species live there. Ean was particularly excited because a Red Legged Honeycreeper had been visiting for a few days. They are not normally found on Tobago. Sure enough, out he came when Ean started putting out additional titbits. More than 50 species of bird are known to live on the farm.
The display of hummers and other birds was truly extraordinary. There must have been 30-40 different hummingbirds feeding from eight or nine feeders just a couple of metres in front of us, and a host of other species little more than that distance again. Truly magic!
So, the US$5 admission fee is truly a bargain for an exhibition like this. I really recommend the place to visitors. You will find the Adventure Farm & Nature Reserve just half a mile before the Arnos Vale Hotel on the road around Plymouth. It will be on your right. Don’t be put off by the narrow bumpy road up to the house.
We are staying at Arnos Vale currently and know how outstanding the bird watching has always been here. Of course in years gone by afternoon tea at the Arnos Vale Hotel was one of those ‘musts’ that every visitor automatically did. The tea was always pretty awful, but the birds were a different story. In recent years, with the virtual demise of the hotel, they have not been looked after in the manner they would expect and both the tea and the birds are now a rather sad experience.
Ean Mackay, the owner of Adventure Farm & Nature Reserve has always been passionate about ecology and bird life and has turned his 12-acre organic fruit farm over to a full reserve. In recent years he has concentrated hard on providing the right environment and feeding for the birds – and hummingbirds in particular – and now offers a truly wonderful spectacle throughout the day. An increasing number of birding guides are ending tours there, but it is the one place where visitors are guaranteed to see example of a wide range of birds.
Returning to our villa, we decided to call in. Wow! In the 20 minutes we were there we saw four of the six species of hummer that live on Tobago. I was told that five of the species live there. Ean was particularly excited because a Red Legged Honeycreeper had been visiting for a few days. They are not normally found on Tobago. Sure enough, out he came when Ean started putting out additional titbits. More than 50 species of bird are known to live on the farm.
The display of hummers and other birds was truly extraordinary. There must have been 30-40 different hummingbirds feeding from eight or nine feeders just a couple of metres in front of us, and a host of other species little more than that distance again. Truly magic!
So, the US$5 admission fee is truly a bargain for an exhibition like this. I really recommend the place to visitors. You will find the Adventure Farm & Nature Reserve just half a mile before the Arnos Vale Hotel on the road around Plymouth. It will be on your right. Don’t be put off by the narrow bumpy road up to the house.