An Idiot's guide to Ancient Woodland management

[the village idiot]

Shooting the wildlife.

 

The woodland is managed for biodiversity so it's nice to be able to get some pictures of the organisms that have made their home here. 

 

Up until very recently we have had to rely on dodgy point and click camera phone shots taken by me and TVI 2.

 

We were recently contacted by a more capable photographer who asked if he could come to the wood to take wildlife shots. We were very pleased, and in surprisingly short order he has produced some really nice shots.

 

All photos in the next few posts courtesy of David Townrow.

 

 

 

Here is the Barn Owl that we call Edna. She has taken to hunting deep inside the wood every evening. This is quite unusual behavior as Barn owls typically prefer open fields. 

 

She seems to particularly like our newly created coppice compartments as they come back quite grassy in their first year post felling. The Oak standards provide her with lots of perching options from which to look for tasty small mammal treats!

 

Barn owls very rarely nest within woodlands. They may occupy a tree with a suitable hole and cavity on the woodland edge but we think Edna may have made her home in a disused station house on the periphery of the woodland.

 

 

[gary112]

20 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Shooting the wildlife.

 

The woodland is managed for biodiversity so it's nice to be able to get some pictures of the organisms that have made their home here. 

 

Up until very recently we have had to rely on dodgy point and click camera phone shots taken by me and TVI 2.

 

We were recently contacted by a more capable photographer who asked if he could come to the wood to take wildlife shots. We were very pleased, and in surprisingly short order he has produced some really nice shots.

 

All photos in the next few posts courtesy of David Townrow.

 

 

 

Here is the Barn Owl that we call Edna. She has taken to hunting deep inside the wood every evening. This is quite unusual behavior as Barn owls typically prefer open fields. 

 

She seems to particularly like our newly created coppice compartments as they come back quite grassy in their first year post felling. The Oak standards provide her with lots of perching options from which to look for tasty small mammal treats!

 

Barn owls very rarely nest within woodlands. They may occupy a tree with a suitable hole and cavity on the woodland edge but we think Edna may have made her home in a disused station house on the periphery of the woodland.

 

 

Great pictures

[Will C]

That second pic is a cracker 😎

Edited February 20, 2021 by Will C
T button not always working/fat fingers

[Khriss]

Wot a bonus- wildlife photographer on yr patch  K

[the village idiot]

A few more from the wood:

 

Nuthatch.

 

 

 

Great spotted Woodpecker.

 

 

 

Fox.

 

 

 

 

 

[AJStrees]

Beautiful lighting on the fox shot and nice looking guy too. Do you know what equipment he was using?

[the village idiot]

5 minutes ago, AJStrees said:

Beautiful lighting on the fox shot and nice looking guy too. Do you know what equipment he was using?

I'm not fully up to speed on the very latest developments in camera technology but it looked like a black box with a long thingy sticking out of the front.

 

I'll ask David for a bit more detail and get back to you.

[the village idiot]

A couple more snowy ones. Once again courtesy of David Townrow:

 

Roe deer on the woodland edge.

 

 

 

 

A stoat checking out one of our brash piles. 

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by the village idiot

[the village idiot]

45 minutes ago, AJStrees said:

Beautiful lighting on the fox shot and nice looking guy too. Do you know what equipment he was using?

As I suspected all along, he was using a Sony A7Riii with a 200-600mm lens.

Edited February 20, 2021 by the village idiot

[roboted]

Nice to see this thread keep  going 👍

Really good pictures, tremendous composition and clarity. I may have to change my Canon to a Sony 😁