Bel's Wood

With so much tall grass and bracken triggering the cameras I have been placing them up trees recently to see what is happening in the canopy. I have picked up a good selection of secret goings on over the last month or two including some lovely Woodpecker, Jay and Owl activity. The downside of watching the activity in branches is the number of grey squirrels running up and down. It looks like the numbers are up this year and I am talking to neighbours about managing the numbers as the South Lakes grey population migrate north and threaten one of the last remaining populations of Red Squirrels. They will also pose a threat to the newly planted trees as they become more established as they will be vulnerable to damage to the bark. The ratio on the cameras is about 80% squirrel to 20% something else. Here I am including the ‘something else’.  NB the temperature reported on this camera has always been out by about 8ºc! One of the most common birds I see and hear at the wood is the blue...

The beauty of mature trees is that they house a host of flora and fauna. I have placed cameras up various trees trying to capture birds so that I can learn who lives in Bel’s Wood.  Over time I have collected some lovely footage of birds and mammals and I thought I would bring together these stills and videos in one place. I've captured 10 birds (including a mystery one) and 3 mammals (I do have footage of a magpie somewhere so the number is 11 - just can't find it in my filing system!) I choose a flat surface in the hope that it will attract birds to land and be in focus for the camera to capture. I have selected the best footage here. Tawny owl This is still my favourite footage which has its own dedicated blog https://belswood20.blogspot.com/2022/07/tawny-owl-succesful-hunting-morning.html. I keep putting the camera back in this tree hoping to pick up more footage but apart from this two hour period no owl has returned - yet. Tree creeper Nuthatch Al...