Bel's Wood

The beck is always a good place to pick up wldlife activity on camera and w ith a long dry spell and so no longer flowing it has been even more fruitful. I have put a ‘leaky dam’ in place to hold up the water when the flow stops and this attracts wildlife. This has been followed by a great deal of rainfall and the wildlife have enjoyed washing in the dappled sun. Here is my top selection of stills and videos.  I love to see the Otter passing through which they do at this time of year. Once again this coincides with froglets appearing. I am frustrated that the otter is always running away from the camera! I shall persevere and will post a face to face one if I get it! Otters travel large distances and this one will go between Morecambe Bay, the River Gilpin and this beck alongside many others searching for food. Back in March I picked up tihs Grey Wagtail which is a first for the wood My most common footage is currently the Sparrowhawk  Drinking Washing Mating I nearly always s...

The cameras have been picking up activity at the wood over the summer. This Tawny Owl has visited this pool created by a leaky dam over a number of weeks and I have some lovely footage of him drinking, washing and pooping. This Jay poses for the camera perfectly here showing off his amazing colouring and moustache:- I often see the sparrowhawk and always hear his threatening call. Here he is by the beck and below is a chick who looks a little less confident hopping around. I’ve slightly enhanced this photograph to show the detail - the camouflage on Sparrowhawks and the Tawny Owls is amazing and such a different approach to the blue coloured Jayl I have had this Mink visiting frequently. The pointy nose is an indicator that it is a Mink not an Otter. In previous years I have had both visit at the same time. I have one swift piece footage that may be Otter but so fleeting it is hard to be sure so I have not included it. I have this rather nice footage of a stoat slinking around the tree...

I’ve been working hard up at the wood since February - initially laying mulch mats and now deep into bracken management. I’m loving spending so much time up there but have not paid as much attention to the wildlife over the last months. I thought I would collate the footage from the cameras and try and capture the rhythm of the wood as I experience it though videos and stills. These were collected in May and June 2024. Despite the land having been farmed and used for rearing pheasants for regular shoots, there have always been some wild feeling areas that I treasure and I aim to expand them with more  trees and less open space engulfed with bracken and gorse. I have both cameras on the beck just now as it is always a good place to pick up wildlife. Young fox crossing the beck There are always badgers out and about in the evenings. I often hear them but rarely see them in the flesh. I have been hoping to see the otter again this year as he has visited in June the last two years. I t...

  I pick up camera footage of badgers regularly, usually on their own trotting off to somewhere else. This  footage is unusual and shows 2 badgers in playful mood and I wonder if they are feeling the early stirrings of Spring. Before Christmas I caught this cat leaping across the beck on camera:- This took me by surprise. Although there are cottages over the road from the wood at one end and a farm at the other I have always seen Bel's Wood as a wild place. It looked like this cat was on an adventure.  I have found that this one is a regular visitor and then turned up this footage. I have seen hares on the land before although not for over a year now and I wondered if they were living on the other side of the deer fence. In the snow I saw a lot of footprints that are distinctively hare so I was delighted to get this really clear footage.    I think the one below is also a hare caught briefly on the other camera. The lolloping gait suggests it is a hare not a rab...

It's been a busy summer at the beck. With water being short I have picked up some great wildlife shots and here are a selection of my favourites.  This tawny owl has hunted in the beck and on the videos below you can hear the alarm calls from the blackbirds who will have had young chicks at this point. Tawny owl hunting In this shot the owl is being chased - by it slowing down I can see that the chaser is a Jay. The screeching is urgent and I have included the longer version below where the second shriek is heard off camera. I have seen a male and female fox pretty consistently over the year. This looks like a juvenile so they must have had a successful year. I like the way the moth photobombs the video at the end. There are many squirrels so it would be wrong not to include them! No red squirrels sadly. I have picked up these Sparrowhawks in the beck - sometimes bathing. I think the one that peeps is the juvenile although the same size as the parent here. This ...

In March 2021 I picked up a tantalising piece of footage of a mustelid. Opinion was split as to whether this was an otter, American mink or a polecat.  Mink and otter have been seen on the River Gilpin which my beck flows into. I did find some spraint which wasn't fresh enough to smell. Mink spraint smells unpleasant while otter spraint smells of jasmine or violets!    Basically the video footage was too short to tell so I set about capturing more footage although I reluctantly concluded it was probably a mink. I say reluctantly as these animals have escaped from fur farms and are not native to the UK. They cause harm to the ecosystem. While otters are native and rare. They are a protected species and seeing one is always a delight. I set up 3 cameras on the beck with two on loan from a fellow woodlander Andy. I captured lots of interesting footage. Badger crossing and drinking from the beck Red deer and fox crossing the beck As well as roe d...

 I have collected together some of the wildlife footage caught in February. Most of the shots are captured at night but these first ones of a young male roe deer are in daylight so I have included them as a series. He is a handsome young fella and looks curious This one is a female of the similar age I have picked up some nice shots of a fox - at night so black and white. I don't know if it's male or female but I have seen one of each over time. I am guessing this is the female but unless they are together it is difficult to tell. Clearly the smell of human is very apparent. The cameras do get damp at night which reduces the quality but I quite like this one which is atmospheric I have been collecting fewer badger shots recently. Here is a good clear night time one. I am aware from using the cameras that the badgers take objection to cameras when they are near their setts so I don't put them there any more. Here is footage of the camera being clonked and the culprit scurr...