Update to my bird count!

Here are my new editions to my bird count!

1. Buzzard!

2. Magpie

3. Greenfinch

I love it when i see a new bird in my patch!

Wildlife garden donation!

I've started to build my stream today and its all coming together! Although, I have noticed that to fill up my garden with shrubs, flowers, plants, hedges, pebbles and rocks will cost a fortune! So.... if anyone has any unwanted plants/rocks etc. I will be very grateful! Anything will do..... from hedges to dead wood or fruit trees to pond plants! Please email me on wildlifeonfilm@gmail.com if you have anything to offer or know anyone with anything! I will be very very grateful! :)

New bird in my 'patch'!

Today, as I was in the garden i saw some tiny birds circling above me. They moved will extraordinary speed and I soon realised, when I got my binoculars out that they were house martins! I've never seen them around my house before so I'm excited to find out why they are here! I guess that they were coming back to their traditional nesting sites after their migration to Africa and i hope that they are nesting close!....

I also found today, while i was taking my dog for a walk, a badger sett under a hedge! I looked inside with my camera to find many berries and nuts lining the entrance. They seemed to be fresh, so I will continue to monitor it and maybe even get my trail camera down there!

While receiving the footage from my trail camera today i noticed LOTS of track leading into the woodland. They had prints in the mud and they were foxes! Also, i found lots of killed bird remains and some fox scat on the path. There is a much bigger forest nearby and my guess is that the foxes come to the smaller woodland to forage and hunt (as there are many pigeons nesting it in)! We will have to wait till the weekend to uncover what footage i have on my trail camera........

Bird Count!

I thought that I would start to concentrate more on my 'patch' now so i can really understand the types of wildlife in my area and how to attract it! I did a count of the birds i've seen in the garden/surrounding area.

GAME BIRDS:
1. Common Pheasant

BITTERNS, HERONS& EGRETS:
1. Grey Heron

PIGEONS& DOVES:
1. Wood Pigeon
2. Collared Dove

OWLS:
1.Barn Owl

WOODPECKERS:
1.Great Spotted Woodpecker

PERCHING BIRDS:
1. Wren
2. Robin
3. Blackbird
4. Mistle Thrush
5. Long-tailed Tit
6. Blue Tit
7. Great Tit
8. Coal Tit
9. Jay
10. Crow
11. House Sparrow
12. Chaffinch
13. Goldfinch
14. Bullfinch

A grand total of 20 different species! I think this is a brilliant variety of species and I hope more species will thrive in my patch in the future. I will also do my best to attract many mammal species such as field mice, wood mice, hedgehogs and even badgers! I tried to maintain the rats living under my shed but it got a little out of hand, hence why i have a humane rat trap out at the moment!

Another exciting piece of kit I got was a HandyKam wildlife trail camera which i have got up in the nearby woodland as we speak! It will be out there for 4 days and 3 nights and i will be retrieving it tomorrow. So.....keep a look out on my TrailCam page. I have been told there have been barn owls and foxes in the woodland, so who knows where this will lead......

Nest box In use!

Both of my nest boxes are in use by blue tits! They are building their nests at the moments using twigs from a nearby tree! I've been filming them today and will continue until the chicks fledge! Also, using my live birdbox camera I can get some great footage of inside the birdbox (in the day AND at night!)

Today I have also bought a trail camera so hopefully I can get some get footage with that too! It's going to be quite exciting in the next few weeks!

Carsington Waters

Just been to Carsington Waters in Derbyshire. I saw some magnificent birds including great northern divers, oystercatchers, canadian geese, mallard ducks, dunnocks, goldfinches, chaffinches, coots, snipes, lapwings, tree sparrows and robins. It was a great day out and the hides their were brilliant! Hopefully I will upload some pictures soon.

Wild Woodland

Im currently filming a episode on Woodlands using all of the equipment i have made over the last couple of weeks. This project could take a while as I want to visit the changes of woodlands in each season. If you have any tips or ideas then please contact me at wildlifeonfilm@gmail.com!

Blue Tit perching on a apple tree!

Also, In my wildlife garden project I have dug out my pond and finished my cotswold gravel path! Ive just got a new Panasonic Compact HD video camera, I will hopefully be using this in my Wild Woodland video!