When Midlands Today contacted me to tell me about their week-long feature on Cannock Chase, to be aired mid-October, I knew that Silver Trees Holiday Park would be a perfect location to talk about the wonderful wildlife there. If you have been following my blog, you will know that I have been spending as much time there as I can squeeze in. Using my trail cams there, Rob (who has a caravan there) and I have been setting the Bushnell Trail Cams all around the site and I have captured some really lovely clips of the Fallow with their fawns.
Trevor (the owner of Silver Trees), Rob and I met the team up at the site and gave them a quick tour. The site is a private site and both Trevor and Rob are constantly working hard to make it a real haven for wildlife. The site, which has its own nature reserve of SSSI status, has won the highest Gold Standard in the David Bellamy Awards since their participation in 2008.
The presenter for this piece on the wildlife of Cannock Chase, is Rebecca (Beccy) Wood, who you may have seen on the Midlands Today weather report. She started the piece down in the valley, with the Fallow in the background…
We then moved over to an area that Rob has been working hard on, planting lots of nectar rich plants to attract insect and his latest project… a very impressive Bee Hotel! This hotel is nearly finished and full of holes that should be buzzing with solitary bees next Spring!
Rob also showed Becky one of the latest spots that we set the Bushnell. Using the close-up lens, we set it at a vole burrow and have captured some lovely clips!
We then moved up to one of Trevor’s stunning wooden lodges, where he explained a little more about the Holiday Park and its ethos.
Beccy was working hard… relaxing on one of the verandas!
Following the paths through the bracken, I then took the team to the location where I have captured some of my best Bushnell clips…. a lovely little bracken arena. I had a trail cam in this spot for a couple of months as the new fawns were born. Feeling safe in this spot, the fawns and their mothers appeared in front of my cam well before we usually see them in the open. I explained how I captured the clips and why this site is so important for wildlife.
The weather was kind to us and we managed to get all the filming done in about 4 hours. Just enough time for a team photo, before they headed off to film another piece in the Chase. Watch out for the piece, that should air in the week beginning the 13th October.
