Woodpecker wonders!

I thought I was lucky to have great spotted woodpeckers in the garden, now I even have green woodpeckers on my patch! I'd never seen one until the other day so I did some research about their habitat and diet to try to learn how to continue attracting them.

"The green woodpecker is the largest of the three woodpeckers that breed in Britain. It has a heavy-looking body, short tail and a strong, long bill. It is green on its upperparts with a paler belly, bright yellow rump and red on the top of its head. The black 'moustache' has a red centre in males. They have an undulating flight and a loud, laughing call."

They eat ants….thats why it was foraging on the ground for about half an hour! This gave me plenty of time to get my camera to get some photos and footage. I didn't want to disturb the bird, resulting in it not wanting to come back again, so I took these photos from inside the house hence why they not very close-up. I really wish I could find the nest of this bird for next year!

Green woodpecker footage:

Great spotted woodpecker footage:

Green woodpecker foraging in the bushes!

Out in the open, letting me have a good look!

Posing in front of my wildlife garden!

As I said earlier, we also get the great spotted woodpeckers visiting very frequently! I was watering the plants a few days ago when I noticed a woodpecker on the patio, I think it was a juvenile. I got my phone out and got surprisingly close to it, managing to get a couple of shots.

In the future, I would love to be able to find out where the nests are for some of these individuals. It would be amazing if I could get a camera up to document their lives!!

If you have any info on woodpeckers which would help me with this either comment or email me at wildlifeonfilm@gmail.com!

Photographing Frogs!

After watching Charlie Hamilton's 'I bought a rainforest'  it really inspired me. It has inspired me to get more involved in the conservation of the rainforest (such as petitions and donating), to use techniques he used (shown below) to photograph wildlife and i'm even using him as an photographer for my GCSE photography project! I have donated to the 'I bought a rainforest page' and so should you! It is a very important cause. 

Here is the BBC page where you will find the appropriate links: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0465vqh

Here is an example of one of Charlie's photos from the series so far:

Charlie Hamilton's Photo

And here are some of mine, using his technique! I used a homemade photography box with lights and white paper to try and create the best, clearest images!

I will continue to use this type of photography later on to photograph different species, such as insects, butterflies and other amphibians! Keep an eye on my blog...

My Wildlife Garden: Start to finish

My wildlife garden which began construction at the beginning of 2013, after coming up with the idea over the Christmas holiday, has flourished from a rather bland, unattractive space to a vibrant, natural habitat for many species of flora and fauna!

 In the picture below it doesn't seem to be much of a wildlife garden does it, and the funny think is the more I tried to make it look natural the worse it seemed to look. After a while, I gave up a little. But who would have known that this lack of care and perfection actually helped my garden to develop! Here is the journey of my amazing wildlife garden to date:

I started by digging out the pond, lining it and securing it with wooden planks. I then used the same concept to create my path, which I then filled with cotswolds gravel. 

I made a wigwam out of bamboo canes and began to weave willow around it too allow me to grow sweat peas up it.

I hung my homemade bird box on a 'goalpost' like bar.

The addition of plants started to develop my garden enormastly, and even pippin loved to relax there!

I got some pond plants from a gardener in the village...

and started to grow sweet peas up the wigwam.

Heather was planted...

and more plants were bought to decorate the path.

I even put up bird boxes...

frog homes...

and made a hedgehog house.

As you can see after a while, my wildlife garden started to take shape!

And all my hard work was rewarded with an unusual visitor, a grey heron!

Here are some photos which show the biodiversity of my wildlife garden. I think I like its that something that may look like a weed may turn into a vivid, colourful foxglove. The absence of colour really changed the perception of a natural habitat.

Fox footage :)

I left my trail camera out in the woodland behind out garden to see if I could capture the foxes. I got loads of footage of one of them feeding, but failed to get cubs or multiple foxes in one shot which was a shame. I will keep trying though!

 I reckon that I have 2 different individual foxes visiting as their ear shape is different. One has very pointy, long ears which a thin and the other has shorter, stubby ears which are thicker.

Short, stubby ears.

Long, pointy ears.