Our AONB Farmland Bird Adviser Tracy Adams, has been very busy filming recently. Last Thursday, 2nd June, Tracy met up with a film crew from BBC's Countryfile programme on a farm near Tytherington near Warminster. The aim? To film some of the habitat the farmer has put in place specifically to help birds like corn bunting and tree sparrow and hopefully get some footage of the birds themselves, although they were not impressed by the presence of a camera crew! Tracy and presenter Julia Bradbury did some insect sweep netting in areas of flowers grown specifically to encourage insects as well as taking part in a quiz of bird calls. If you want to see more, tune in to BBC1 on Sunday 26th June and enjoy some great views of the West Wiltshire Downs.
Five days later Tracy was back out again with a camera crew from one of the project funders Wessex Water, to make a film about the project which will be available later on this year on YouTube via a link from our website. We were lucky enough to get some footage of lapwings including nesting birds on a farm near Tisbury. Last year, the Wessex Chalk Stream Project hosted a visit from some Chinese Government officials following publication of a short film on YouTube who had been searching the internet for examples of river restoration, so who knows where this might lead!A big thank you to everyone who helped me organise the filming including individuals from RSPB, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust as well as the host farmers.
