Footage of a nocturnal visitor to Sharpham Meadow

17th January, 2021

by Julian | 3 Min Read

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We've managed to capture footage of a beautiful, silent, night-time visitor to Sharpham Meadow Natural Burial Ground.

A Barn Owl has been hunting in the meadow - feeding on the small mammals that live and shelter in the long grass.

And thanks to work by our rewilding partners Ambios, and their camera-trapping trainees, we've been rewarded with a close-up. Click here or the picture to see the video.

It's a sign that the habitat is getting healthier and can now support a wider range of animals and plants - that feed the mice, shrews & voles, and in turn are prey for birds such as this owl.

We first heard the owl's presence from Sharpham Trust maintenance man Christian Llewellyn, who said he got swooped on when he was at the meadow in the early morning.

Ambios's work includes teaching skills for setting unmanned camera-traps to capture stills and video footage of unsuspecting animals, so Ambios Director Jack Skuse and some trainees set up a camera trap and then waited...

"We got four films," said Jack, "two of us setting up the camera and taking it down, one of a wasp...and then this!"

Rewilding at Sharpham

The Sharpham Trust and Ambios are currently rewilding farmland on the Sharpham Estate, as part of our Wild For People project

50 acres of farmland are being rewilded in this National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported project, which will:

make more space for wildlife and take action for nature
assist in turning the Sharpham Estate organic
re-wild parts of our historic landscape
help more people engage with nature here

Do you want to learn how to camera-trap?

If you'd like to learn about camera-trapping, or nature identification, you can find out more about the courses offered by Ambios here: www.ambios.net/distancelearning

The next camera-trapping course - delivered online - begins in April