A COUPLE from South Lakeland are on cloud nine after a pair of rare birds of prey swooped into their home for the second year running.

Experts are fretting over the fate of the kestrel whose populations are believed to be declining across Britain.

But Vicky and Mike Brereton, who own Gleaston Mill, near Ulverston, home to a working water mill and coffee shop, said they have been "inundated" with the birds. Over the past two years a pair of kestrels have been nesting in an owl hole in the wall of the historic mill. And last year the pair reared five young, which have now dispersed.

For full story and picture, and how to view the kestrels at the mill, see the March 16 edition of The Westmorland Gazette.