Owl star of Springwatch-style nest camera

Black Country beauty spot staff have their own Springwatch project to track movements of birds nesting there.

An infra-red camera has been installed in a barn owl nest at Northycote Farm, Underhill Lane, Bushbury, Wolverhampton, recording images through the night.

Manager Ian Nicholls then scours footage the next day, noting details in his diary. Cameras are due to be installed at a giant bird feeder to view other species, as well as another at a swallow's nest.

Mr Nicholls hopes visitors may soon see shots on a big screen in the tea rooms. Now images go to a monitor in the farm classroom.

He said: "This is a real opportunity for us to watch the birds and see what they are getting up to. From an educational point of view it could be absolutely spot on. We are looking to put a screen in the tearooms so people can watch the birds in there.

"We have been following the barn owls for the last couple of months and we are hoping for some newborns but it hasn't come to that yet.

"It's not just the owls, we have got migrants which visit including chiff-chaffs and swallows. We are keeping an eye on what's happening with the owls, we are recording what they are doing and logging the time and date."

After the wooden feeder, with a dozen feeders hanging from it, was put in the wildlife gardens earlier this year scores of species were seen for the first time. It attracted more than 60 different types of birds.

Alan Portlock, assistant manager at the city council-owned farm, said: "We have always had bird feeders in the wildlife gardens. We keep them in the shrubs and fruit trees but the birds weren't coming in very large numbers.

Also, it wasn't great for spotting species because the feeders were hidden away in the trees or shrubs.

"Birds would come and go and you may never have seen them."

Species spotted include robins, sparrows, rooks, jays, pheasants, wren, dunnocks, great tits and woodpeckers.