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Winter
Through the winter
months we will be filming as and when the weather allows - or makes
things interesting. We hope that there will be plenty of birds
feeding around the garden, especially redwings and fieldfares, plus
all the usual species on the bird feeders. If there is snow we
should also be able to film tracks of animals and birds in the
garden. In January we begin some work to the garden that means
unfortunately removing one of our many log piles which may disturb
sheltering creatures. If this happens we will take the
opportunity to film them before relocating to a sheltered spot.
Regular filming will begin again in February as spring arrives.
October
Over the autumn and
winter we will be filming as and when something interesting comes up
(some snow would be nice!) or the weather is particularly
interesting. Here in the South Shropshire Hills our garden is
at a height of 200m (650 ft) - just high enough to catch misty
cloud in the colder weather. There are days when we don't
emerge from this mist at all, so filming will have to take place
when the conditions are right. We hope to film the large
flocks of fieldfares that visit our garden for the apples, hawthorn
and holly berries, plus any other exciting winter bird visitors
including siskins . Our next major job in the garden is to
make a dedicated bee garden for our own honey bees and the solitary
bees and bumblebees round about. This work will take place in
late winter/early spring and the professional team will will film
this process.
September
September saw us filming
the cutting of our wildflower meadow - a major job at this time of
year. Tony and Andy brought their professional equipment over
from Oxford and we spent a day filming the cutting and raking of the
meadow plus some of the wildlife that we found as we carried out
this task. At other times, when the September sun warmed the
garden Alan filmed butterflies feeding on flowers in the borders and
on some of our fallen apples.. I continued filming my monthly
video diary and we are all looking forward to some new garden
visitors in the next few months - hopefully siskins, redwings and
fieldfares to make up for the swallows that have flown.
August
August was not the best
month for filming - the weather was often damp and windy but
we did our best with the camera we have here, recording the change
of seasons as the summer began to fade, young birds using the
feeders and of course our swallow family - now a happy band of 12
including the parents! Catching the moment when the young
leave the nest for the first time is not easy and in fact we missed
it as it was very early in the morning! Alan also filmed the
local swallows and martins using the big pond - drinking and
sometimes dipping in for a quick bath. There was lots of
bumblebee activity to film and the larger butterfly species were
feeding well on Buddleia and other border plants. Next month
we are expecting the proper crew to film the cutting of the
wildflower meadow - a big job always done in September.
July
Well here, as elsewhere
in the country, July was a bit of a wash out and our plans to film
close-ups of some of the wildlife in the garden were thwarted by
wet, cold and windy weather. The only consolation was that the
ponds were completely full and when the rain did stop for a while we
were able to film some of the dragonfly and damselfly species around
the garden. Cameraman number 3 also filmed the swallows nest
again, a bumblebees nest and young blue tits bathing in the small
barrel pond (although they could have got perfectly clean by just
sitting in the rain). Hopefully August and September will be
sunnier and the main camera crew will come up from Oxford to do the
really exciting work with their special equipment.
June
June was a very busy
month for our own filming and cameraman number 3 (ie. my husband
Alan) was especially active! There was so much going on at the
feeders and pond that he spent every spare moment recording
dragonflies fighting and birds feeding, especially the swallows .
Their nest was very easy to film by setting up the camera on the
garden path near the porch. The birds themselves completely
ignored it and successfully fledged five youngsters in the middle of
the month. As June progressed it was possible to capture young
blue tits and great tits learning how to use the feeders as well as
filming some lovely sunsets from the garden. He also recorded
the young tawny owls calling, bats flying over the pond and the
meadow blooming.
May
During May we were left
to do some filming here ourselves, which can be rather a hit and
miss affair! There was certainly lots to try to capture on
film, but as we are not the experts we are never sure how well we
are doing until we get feedback from the professionals!
Luckily most of our contributions were for background and atmosphere
shots. We filmed several times as the meadow seemed to be
growing before our eyes, the bees continued to work hard at filling
the nest tubes (using mud from the new pond area) and it was
relatively easy to set up the camera to film the swallows going in
and out of the porch at the front of the house. I also filmed
my web diary several times and thankfully I am finding that a little
easier now! In July Tony and Andy will be back to do what
they are best at - the proper wildlife shots in close-up - with
director Dan holding everything together! In the meantime we
are recoding what we can when it happens.
April
April was a big month in
terms of filming as it was one of the occasions when 'the big boys'
came to do the job professionally. They filmed us making a new
wildlife pond with everyone lending a hand to dig the pond and bog
garden. An area adjacent to the pond will become a small
meadow with hopefully lots of lady's smock and cowslips - both of
these do really well in our soil. As the red mason bees were
performing well, they were also filmed. We also did some
wildlife filming of our own, getting some great shots of our local
kestrel hovering just outside a window and the heron that regularly
visits our big pond, searching for frogs and newts. Through
the next few weeks we will be filming my web diary, but the big
meadow will become the focus of the main filming in the June and
July.
March
This month was rather
experimental! It has been decided that I will appear in a
'video diary' in the film, so practice at appearing relaxed on
camera was needed! Not easy to do. I'm thinking along
the lines of the Bush Telegraph from I'm a Celebrity but really
can't think of anything interesting to say! Anyway I will
continue to do my best and hope it gets easier over time.
Various snippets were filmed around the garden including a toad in
his usual hiding place (under a grotty piece of corrugated tin).
Most progress was made this month though in the planning of the
whole project down in Oxford in the studio of Panache Productions.
April will see them filming professionally here as we construct a
new pond.
February
Filming the snow at the
beginning of the month was a joy. We so rarely
have this much snow and it hung around for several days - we were
actually snowed in for a week. It was good to get shots of the
many footprints around us, particularly as it confirmed that a fox
visits the garden frequently. We also filmed our lovely
snowdrops and some general winter background. With spring
approaching fast next month should be a very busy one with some
birds beginning to nest and hopefully frogs in the pond!
January 2009
Filming for our wildlife
gardening DVD, which follows us through a year in the life
of our wildlife garden ,began at the beginning of
January. Our cameramen will be making regular
visits with their professional equipment to film us creating a new
pond, making a meadow and many other tasks all through the year, but
between times we will be doing some of the filming ourselves.
Freezing weather gave us
a opportunity to try out the camera and get some bleak shots of
borders covered in hoar frost, birds feeding frantically on
sunflower hearts and peanuts, and the big pond with enough ice to
make a skating rink. Finding out about how the camera works
(and of course my husband Alan wouldn't dream of using the
manual!) was the first step and I am pleased to say that his natural
artistic tendencies (well developed for a forester!) immediately
kicked in. He managed to get some great shots and thoroughly
enjoyed shouting 'cut', 'action' and other suitably technical terms!
Over the next year or so clips
from the filming will hopefully appear on this page. Come back
and check to view our progress.........Jenny
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