10 Minutes in the Garden!

Just 10 minutes in the garden can produce some lovely photos!

Another Spring Setup!

Another Spring Setup!

I've re-enstalled my IR camera into my bird box, which I had a family of blue tits nesting in last year! 

I've got it wired back to my AV splitter, and then into my TV, allowing me to monitor it 24/7!

These little cameras are amazing, allowing you to watch the lives of these great birds, in the daytime and at night, with sound! This year is my most ambitious yet: I have 9 bird boxes up, 2 of them have cameras installed! I really hope we get some birds nesting this year! I would love to have a variety of different species too!

Camera Bird Box

I found this beetle head in the bird box, it must have been food for the chicks last year!

Here is my AV cable splitter,  this lets me switch between bird boxes!
As you can see, i have 3 channels at the moment: two bird boxes and one feeder!

My new bird box, with a camera installed!

Last years bird box, with a camera installed!


Keep an eye on my blog to stay up to date with my 2014 bird boxes! 

Two more photos!

I have just found these photos of the rut on my camera! I must have forgotten to upload them! 

BRADGATE PARK AUTUMN RUT!

As you know, I have been filming at Bradgate Park this week. I have put together some of my favourite  clips (with music) and made a YouTube video! Please tell me what you think of it!

Link to my YouTube video!

More Photos!

Here are some more photos from Bradgate Park, which I took this morning!

Spring Setup!

I'm already setting up more camera bird boxes for next spring! 

I bought this beautiful oak bird box with a slate roof, and I got it from Wheatcroft for only £10! I also bought a wireless IR camera! This evening, I took apart the bird box to install the camera. The 38mm hole may attract tits and even pied flycatchers! I will be placing this bird box at the end of my garden positioned on a exterior wall of my shed! 

Dismantling the bird box!

Once I put it all together I plugged the camera into a power supply and connected the receiver to the TV.

Finished bird box, with IR camera installed!

This receiver has the ability to be connected to 3 other wireless cameras. This will be very useful for the future!

50m receiver

This bird box camera is so much better than my previous camera even though it was £15 cheaper! I can see the entire base of the box which will be great if a bird starts to nest. I am looking forward to see if this box is a success in the spring!!

Incredible Rutting Tour!

Today's rutting tour was incredible! 

I got some great footage and some lovely photos. I will be returning to Bradgate Park later next week (this time at the crack of dawn!) to get some more amazing footage. I will upload all of my photos and footage then, but here is a sneak peak of some of the brilliant behaviour I captured today: 

Taking Action

While in Cambridge this weekend I came across a lady handing out leaflets in the street about badger culling.

 I told her that I had been putting up posters in my village, and she gave me loads of great material to hand round! She was telling me about what she does to help the badgers, such as petitions, writing letters and even protecting sets by monitoring them ALL NIGHT!

She gave me stickers, petitions and lots of leaflets, which was great! I went back to her stall later on in the day to take a photo for my blog, but sadly she had left. She was probably already sitting in a wood somewhere guarding a set!

Here is some of the material she provided me with: 

I went round my village handing out all the leaflets later on that day. If you want to sign the latest petition please visit petitions.direcct.gov.uk/petitions/54685 

Also write to your local MP! If you are unsure who your MP is, there name can be found at http://www.findyourmp.parliment.uk 

I am very excited for Wednesday this week, because I am going to Bradgate Park on a Guided Tour! It is the peak of the red deer rut and the fallows are most probably rutting too! I am going to be filming and photographing this spectacular event. Lets hope the weather is not too bad!

BARBARIC BADGER CULL!

I wish I wasn't having to make this post but as many of you know the badger cull is taking place all over the U.K. Over 130,00 animals will die and all for nothing. The government spend 50 million on the science behind vaccinations and yet they are ignoring it totally! Its ridiculous! Also, the government are going against the peoples wishes and are only thinking about economical factors. Please, if you disagree with the inhumane culling of Badgers please contact your MP or sign the e-petition on http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/38257. 

Badgers can’t speak for themselves and they certainly don’t know what a desperate situation they are in. We are their only hope. 

Here is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=V81wqKpBOuU

This photo was off Google, I thought it was such a nice representation of badgers I had to share it with you!

Pond Dipping? NO....River Dipping!

The other day, I went with my dad to a local brook to see what wildlife was lurking about beneath the waters surface. 

We found lots of water life such as newts, frogs and fish, also the odd cow drinking from the brook! We collected some of the wildlife in jars to take a closer look at them, here are some pictures!

While we were looking at these little fish we turned around to find Pippin climbing onto the hay bail! 

I had to get a photo!

A HEDGEHOG HAVEN!

My garden has become a HEDGEHOG HAVEN! 

Recently, at 10pm every night there have been many hedgehogs visiting my garden. I am still feeding them in my hedgehog box and I’ve been keeping my hedgehog tunnel clear of any weeds, but suddenly they have been flooding and I don’t know why? Maybe it’s because of all the slugs and snails?

Anyway, here are a few pictures I managed to capture before it ran out of sight. I always use my biggest camera lens to zoom in so I cause as little disturbance as I can.

(taken on a Canon DSLR)

(taken on a iPhone 4s)

I've also took a quick stop at Rutland waters today to take Pippin on a walk around part of the reservoir! At this times of year there is lots of sailing on the water, but that didn't stop Pippin taking a dip!

Here are some other pictures I took:

This week we have also been taking care of some chicks for a friend. About a year ago I managed to incubate and hatch 6 chicks myself and so it was great to be able to look after some again!

They loved investigating and pecking in the garden and my other chicken were very interested in them too!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of post recently! I have been very busy :/

What is WildlifeByBilly?!

WildlifeByBilly is my YouTube channel which I have been developing over the last year or so!

I thought it would be a good idea to create a video showing some clips of the best footage I have captured over the last 18 months. I thought that it would be great for new viewers of my blog!

Here is my youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMvjL6taQn4

Also, here are some stills that I didn't include in the video, but I would love to share with you!

I love the picture above because of the ripples and the simplicity of the colours. I took this picture in Derbyshire!

I also love this picture because of the 'v' shaped ripple effect trailing behind the Mallard duck!

Please carry on watching my blog!

If your thinking you have seen this post before, your right! I'm going to occasionally upload it so new visitors to my blog can see what its all about.