Garden – Page 4 – Canned Wildlife

Day 5 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 6, 2016May 24, 2020Posted in Birds, Challenge, Conservation, Encounters, Environmental, Film, Garden, Video, VlogTagged 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, Birds, Birmingham, Challenge, Conservation, My Wild Life, Random Acts of Wildness, RSPB, Springwatch, Suburban, The Wildlife Trust, Video, West Midlands, Wildlife, Wildlife At My Window, Wildlife Trusts2 Comments

Wildlife At My Window

05/06/16

For day 5 – I have decided to share with you, the wildlife I can see from my window.

Recently I set up a Window Bird Feeder, and all that I had visiting, was a lovely Great Tit – despite all the birds I get in the garden…

But with patience and a wee camera set to record, I got footage of a new visitor to my feeder! 😉

Thanks. 😀

First LIVE Studio Interview

Mar 27, 2016May 24, 2020Posted in Amphibians, BBC, Conservation, Encounters, Environmental, Exploration, Garden, Interview, Local, Mammals, Reptiles, TV, Video, WorkTagged Adam Canning, Big Centre TV, Broadcast, Conservation, Easter, Environment, Fish Vote, Herptiles, Interview, Jack Perks, Journalism, My Wild Life, Nature, Ralph Lauren, Random Acts of Wildness, RSPB, Springwatch, The Wildlife Trust, Video, West Midlands, Wild Time, Wildlife2 Comments

I should hopefully be making a series of short videos very soon, for Big Centre TV. The series will be entitled Wild West (Midlands) and it will showcase the greenspaces, wildlife and naturalists that are in and around the West Midlands.

To introduce me to their audience they asked me to come in on the 24th for a live studio interview, to discuss what families in the West Midlands can get up to this Easter Holiday, surveys and seasonal wildlife.

This is my first ever live studio interview:

Thanks. 😅

Wildlife Monthly: ARG Record Pool

Mar 17, 2016Posted in Amphibians, Canal, Challenge, Coast, Conservation, Country Park, Encounters, Environmental, Exploration, Farm, Garden, Greenbelt, Holiday, Interview, Lakes, Local, Nature Reserve, Reptiles, River, TV, Video, VlogTagged Adam Canning, Amphibians, ARG UK, Birmingham, Conservation, Countryside, East Midlands, Environment, Film, Herptiles, Interview, Jack Perks, My Wild Life, Random Acts of Wildness, Reptiles, Springwatch, Suburban, Survey, Video, West Midlands, Wild Time, Wildlife, Wildlife Garden, Wildlife MonthlyLeave a comment

This month I’ve decided to focus on some wildlife that takes a backseat, and is often overlooked – Reptiles and Amphibians! 🐍 🐸

ARG UK have teamed up with Amphibian and Reptile Conservation; to bring us a Record Pool of our water loving and sun loving friends! In the video below I interview Underwater Cameraman, Jack Perks – to give us some tips and the lowdown on this nationwide survey.

To get involved with the survey; click here. 💻

Get spotting!

Thanks. 😃

Wildlife Monthly and Big Garden Birdwatch!

Jan 30, 2016Mar 17, 2016Posted in Birds, Conservation, Encounters, Environmental, Farm, Film, Garden, Local, Nature Reserve, VideoTagged A Focus On Nature, Adam Canning, Big Garden Birdwatch, Birds, BTO, Conservation, Environment, Farm, Film, Garden, Garden BirdWatch, Lord of the Manor, Moseley Old Hall, My Wild Life, National Trust, RSPB, South Staffs, Staffordshire, Survey, Video, Wild Time, Wildlife, Wolverhampton, Woodland1 Comment

Wildlife Monthly – my seasonal video guide to British wildlife – is back! 😃

It has been 5 whole years since my first ever episode! There were two series in total, which Reader’s Digest Magazine featured on their website, with the last episodes being uploaded at the end of May 2012. Each month I produced 3 videos around a minute or more, detailing flora and fauna (mainly fauna) for you to look out for; be it in your garden, local park/reserve or further afield.

The idea this year, if all goes to plan, is to produce a single video per month, following that same criteria. Episode 1 of 2016’s Wildlife Monthly is in support of the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, in which I made some pink bird food. It was filmed at Moseley Old Hall – National Trust, which is in located on the boarder of South Staffordshire and Wolverhampton – where for the day, I was Lord of the Manor. 😉

Red Fat Balls and Lard Cake Recipe:

250g Lard (I used dripping, it’s fine to use suet and vegetable fat)
150g Sunflower Hearts
100g Crushed Peanuts
50g Porridge Oats
1 Red Gel Food Colour (Dr. Oetker)

Doubtless you’ll be doing yours in a kitchen!

Crush the Peanuts with a pestle and mortar, or put them between a tea-towel and whack them with a rolling-pin.
You don’t want to deep-fry the food, so just melt your chosen fat on a low-to-medium heat/flame.
(Add everything to the lard and mix together) Turn your heat right down. When everything is mixed together, line a small cuboid container with either grease-proof paper or clingfilm, fill it with the mixture halfway and pop it into the fridge – to set for an hour – creating your Lard Cake.
Pop the rest of the mixture into the fridge for approx. 45 minutes, stirring every few minutes initially, so when it comes to making the mixture into balls it’s at the right consistency.
Roll the mixture into fatballs – you should get approx. 6 in total.
The rest is self-explantory/can be gathered from my video above…

RSPB.org.uk/Birdwatch

BTO.org/GardenBirdWatch

The breeding population of Goldfinches has risen by approx. 91% in recent years, and in Ireland the increase was around 158%! The British Trust for Ornithology has launched a survey to determine what is attracting these fabulous finches to our gardens. — BTO.org/Goldfinch-Survey

It’s estimated that since the 70’s we have lost 6 million House Sparrows! However, I’m proud to write; in Birmingham they are in good numbers! Along with Devon and Dorset, bucking the trend. 😊

UPDATE:

BGBWJan16 — These are the results from my Garden Birdwatch (31/01/2016)

To catch up on pervious episodes of Wildlife Monthly, click here.

Thanks and all the best! 😀

Day 22 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 22, 2015Jun 22, 2015Posted in Challenge, Environmental, Garden, Local, PlantsTagged #30DaysWild, #MyWildLife, #WildTime, 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, Birmingham, Challenge, Flora, Forget-me-not, My Wild Life, Rubery, Semirural, Something Blue, Suburban, Wild Garden, Wild Time, Wildflower, Wildlife Garden, Wildlife Trusts, Worcestershire3 Comments

“Snap a picture of something blue”

A nice easy one today 🙂 I spent most of my day with my friend Laura at her Pet Store. I’ve mentioned the shops’ unkempt Wildlife Garden in a previous Blog post, it’s where I took todays’ “something blue”.

I’ve heard Forget-me-nots being described as “a British staple” – they do seem quintessentially British 😉

The CavyNoodle Wildlife Garden. — The Sweet Peas are doing well in the CavyNoodle Wildlife Garden.

Thanks 🙂

Day 18 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 18, 2015Jun 22, 2015Posted in Challenge, Encounters, Garden, Local, PlantsTagged #30DaysWild, #MyWildLife, #WildTime, 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, Birmingham, Bugs, Challenge, Encounter, Flora, Garden, Insects, Meadow, My Wild Life, Random Acts of Wildness, Semirural, Suburban, Worcestershire1 Comment

What Caught My Eye

For day 18, I decided I would take a picture of whatever caught my eye. The first thing that did, was a lovely Green Shield Bug! 🙂

A Green Shield Bug perched on my parents livingroom window.

Later I went to visit my friend Laura’s pet shop, CavyNoodle Pets UK – in a village called Rubery. The shop more or less has a Wildlife Garden out back, where various wildflowers pop up. The Sweet Pea below, stood out to me.

I forgot how large Sweet Pea flowers and leaves grow. — This Sweet Pea is growing wild, so its’ flowers and leaves are larger than the cultivated varieties.

On the way back, I remembered the Shinning Cranesbill I passed on the walk down to Rubery was very red! So on my way back up, I snapped a couple pictures.

It'd be really cool, if this whole path was lined with the red plants! — It’d be really cool, if this whole path was lined with red Shinning Cranesbill!

These particular plants are red in colour due to the dry weather – therefore are nutrient starved, shutting down/stopping chlorophyll production and going to seed quite early. The remaining sugars in the leaves give it its’ red pigment. In away, the sugars have caramelised 😀

Thanks for visiting 🙂