Video – Page 7 – Canned Wildlife

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: Bewick’s Swan

Feb 22, 2016Posted in Birds, Conservation, Encounters, Environmental, Film, Lakes, Nature Reserve, Video, West CountryTagged Adam Canning, BBC Midlands Today, Bewick's Swan, Birding, Conservation, Countryfile, Countryside, Days Out, Documentary, Environment, February, Gloucestershire, My Wild Life, Natural History, Outdoors, Slimbridge, Swan, Video, Wetlands, Whooper Swan, Wild Time, Wildfowl, Wildlife Monthly, Winter, Winterwatch, WWTLeave a comment

If you’ve not seen or heard of Wildlife Monthly; click here.

This month’s instalment features one of our large feathery winter visitors from the high Arctic; the Bewick’s Swan. Part of the “Wild Swans” family, they’re not sedentary but are free-roaming and make a lot more noise than Mute Swans do – with their load trumpeting calls which often mark their arrival. They are also famously known for their individual black and yellow beak markings – allowing each bird to be identified and studied, which the staff at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, have been doing since the 1960’s. They’re named after the celebrated bird illustrator, Thomas Bewick – and funnily enough, the yellow on a Bewick’s Swan’s beak forms the letter B!

To see my video on the Whooper Swan (another member of the Wild Swan family) click here.

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 24 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 24, 2015Jun 25, 2015Posted in BBC, Birds, Challenge, Conservation, Country Park, Encounters, Farm, Film, Greenbelt, Local, Nature Reserve, TV, Video, Walk, WoodlandTagged 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, BBC Midlands Today, BBC Wildlife, Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cadbury, Conservation, country park, Countryfile, Countryside, Film, For The Love Of, Frankley, Frankley Beeches, Lickey Hills Country Park, My Wild Life, National Trust, Rubery, Springwatch, The One Show, The Wildlife Trust, Video, West Midlands, Wild Time, Wildlife Trusts, WorcestershireLeave a comment

Behind the Scenes: Video for the Wild

I chose the mystery location for yesterdays’ video, because I grew up a short walk away from it and was inspired by an episode of Countryfile where Anita Rani showcases rural Bradford 😛 Incase you’ve not seen the video, I’ll not ruin the ‘surprise’ with naming it. It’s where I cut my teeth as a child and naturalist, so to speak and over the years I’ve seen loads of wildlife there, a few firsts, which includes the time I saw my first Weasel as a child! Yesterday my friend Gary and I observed a Kestrel and Jay up there.

In the second shot of the intro to my video, I’m on the top of Rubery Hill/Cock Hill, with the Frankley countryside and suburb in the background, there are more great views from up there; the Lickey Hills, Rubery and Bromsgrove in the distance – plus the country park I reveal in my video 😉

When we were filming near Frankley Beeches wood, we heard and saw a beautiful male Yellowhammer – it’s the second time I’ve seen one in Frankley, (I’ve mainly distantly heard their song now and again) so I decided to record and feature this Yellowhammers’ song as the soundtrack for the video. We could also hear the beautiful song of the Skylark in the distance, down near Lower Hill Farm. On New Street, near the Greenbelt just before Frankley Hill Lane (which leads up to the Frankley Beeches Wood) I saw a partly Leucistic male Blackbird collecting worms, I almost mistook it for a Ring Ouzel!

**Yesterdays’ Video for the Wild** 😀

Today I observed a male and female House Sparrow feeding on aphids from the wee Willow Tree that’s in my parents garden.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Day 23 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 23, 2015Mar 17, 2016Posted in BBC, Challenge, Conservation, Country Park, Farm, Film, Greenbelt, Local, Nature Reserve, River, Video, Walk, WoodlandTagged 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, BBC Midlands Today, Birmingham, Cadbury, Conservation, country park, Countryfile, Countryside, Film, For The Love Of, Frankley Beeches, My Wild Life, National Trust, Natural England, River Rea, River Tame, Rubery, Springwatch, The One Show, The Wildlife Trust, Video, Waseley Hills Country Park, West Midlands, Wild Time, Wildlife Trusts, Worcestershire1 Comment

Video for the Wild

My favourite local patch – and why it matters to me:

Ode to a Secret River – the poem I mention in the video.

Thanks for visiting 😀

Day 13 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 13, 2015Mar 17, 2016Posted in Challenge, VideoTagged #30DaysWild, #MyWildLife, #WildTime, 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, Challenge, Dance in a downpour, Random Acts of Wildness, Semirural, Suburban, The Wildlife Trust, Video2 Comments

It was raining, so I only had one obvious thing to do – “Dance in a downpour” ! 😀

I kind of had a routine planned, but I just went with whatever came to mind! Oopsy! 😛 I filmed it close to the entrance of a wood, with my phone sat on the handrail of a wooden bridge that takes you over a brook into the wood. There were dog walkers – hence the brief pause and glance to the left of screen.

Enjoy my sloppy “moves”, it is supposed to be funny… I look such a fool! 😉

Thanks 🙂

Day 11 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 12, 2015Sep 16, 2015Posted in Challenge, Environmental, Insects, Local, NestTagged #30DaysWild, #MyWildLife, #WildTime, 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, Environment, Insects, Nest, Random Acts of Wildness, Suburban, The Wildlife Trust, Video, Wasps1 Comment

There’s the suggestion to “Follow a bee”, but to cut a long story short; I watched a few insects (no Bees today) after work. What first caught my eye was a wee blue flying one! A Ruby-tailed Wasp to be exact 🙂

Apologies for the poor images (phone snaps again).

The fly that caught my eye — Ruby-tailed Wasp – blue top and red bottom

Something larger caught my eye and disappeared down the back of the shed door, a Mason Wasp! Which I watched for a short while.

image-11-06-15-09-54 — Flies followed it back to the shed, and sat outside

Something landed on my hand and startled me! After all, I was Wasp-watching. I shook it off and it flew on to the shed door, which seems a popular place for flying insects.

image-11-06-15-09-54-2 — It was a Damselfly! It was brown in colour

A couple clips of the Mason Wasp:

Thanks 🙂

Day 5 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 5, 2015Mar 17, 2016Posted in Challenge, Local, Plants, Vlog, WorkTagged #30DaysWild, #MyWildLife, #WildTime, 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, Flora, Springwatch, Suburban, The Wildlife Trust, Video2 Comments

It’s yet again another workday, so I was pleased that The Wildlife Trust helped me pick something simple to do, by posting their suggestion to Instagram 😀

The garden at my house-share – North of where I grew up – is satisfyingly unkempt! Great for Nature and getting your feet into! So I went out and did Day 5 of this wonderful campaign there 🙂 But I didn’t stop there, oh no! This is moi we’re talking about 😉

I treated my toesies to one of my favourite front gardens, just up the road! It too is gratefully unkempt and has a fantastic variety of flora! ❤

In true form, below is another video awaiting your viewing.

Day 4 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 4, 2015Mar 17, 2016Posted in Birds, Challenge, Film, Local, Nature Reserve, Plants, Walk, WoodlandTagged #30DaysWild, #MyWildLife, #WildTime, 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, Film, Park, Springwatch, The Wildlife Trust, Video, Walk1 Comment

“Discover urban wildness and mini habitats.”

I was at work again today, so went with a simple Random Act of Wildness – on the days I’m not at work they’ll be somewhat elaborate 😉 I chose “Discover urban wildness and mini habitats.” – from the booklet and decided I would complete this challenge by walking home from work and passing by certain places and stopping when something catches my eye etc. Again, I filmed (with my phone) and have a video for you to see!

Brownfield along the Northfield Relief Road.

BYPASS
I left Sainsbury’s and walked down the relief road/bypass, knowing a short walk down it there is a Brownfield site adjacent and that I’d see something there. A patch of land with scrub and a smattering of wildflowers – Poppies being the more obvious flower. I witnessed a skirmish between two male House Sparrows and heard a Dunnock and Blackcap singing. At the top there is a really nice amount of Ivy growing onto of some Hawthorn.

The Dunnock and Blackcap were somewhere in the Ivy. A short distance past the Ivy is a Alder tree, which had a Harlequin Ladybird on it – which features in the video.

Buttercups growing in an unkempt feature thing

BUZZING
Off the bypass is Bristol Road South, I crossed over and headed down there and came across some Buttercups growing on top of some sort of feature; a raised garden brick-structure-thing and saw a few Bees flying around! I climbed on top to get a closer look etc.

BROOK
I carried on down the road and admired the grass verge that separates both lanes, as some parts of it haven’t been mown – to deliberately leave strips of wildflower! I passed by a lovely park called Manor Farm Park, but decided not to venture into the park and head on down to Merritts Brook Greenway, where I took the pictures blow and end my short film.

Wild Garlic (Ramsons) flowers past their best

I’ll say no more and let the video say the rest 😉 Enjoy! 🙂

Day 3 – 30 Days Wild

Jun 3, 2015Mar 17, 2016Posted in Birds, Challenge, TV, WorkTagged #30DaysWild, #MyWildLife, #WildTime, 30 Days Wild, Adam Canning, Springwatch, The Wildlife Trust, Video, Webcams2 Comments

I decided on something quick, simple and easy today!

I would be at work for a good chunk of the day, so I needed to do something where I could easily relax afterwards… Doing the previous challenges – which, don’t get me wrong, I had tons of fun doing! It’s just; I didn’t quite get time to relax once I was done. I had a video to edit together, a blog to write and then attempt to get them online (and shared via Social Media) before the day was up!

(Time has flown sorting everything out for this blog, etc…)

I only get a 20 minute lunch-break on Wednesdays (due to the hours I do) – I wanted to make it a wild one! But I couldn’t risk going to a local park or something and then not get back in time… So, I improvised! And decided to make it somewhat wild by watching the BBC Springwatch Webcams! Via the BBC Red Button channel. There were three other people in the room, I don’t think they realised what I had put on, aha! 😀

Springwatch Cetti's Warbler Nest Live — Springwatch Cetti’s Warbler Nest Live

I sat stuffing my face with a create-your-own cheesy garlic pepperoni pizza from Sainsbury’s (where I work) Pizza Counter 😛 Watching a Cetti’s Warbler attend it’s chicks! It’s pretty amazing what we can do nowadays, thanks to technology! It was really enjoyable, eating my food whilst the chicks got theirs and intern having their faecal-sacks disposed of 😀