Close-up video images of deer have been captured on camera as part of a new photographic wildlife survey being conducted in Sherwood Forest.

The footage has been generated as part of a specialist project between Nottinghamshire County Council’s rangers’ team and wildlife photographer Barbara Meyer.

Wildlife cameras have been carefully located within a number of natural habitats with the purpose of generating footage which can benefit education and conservation work at Sherwood Forest Country Park. The cameras are sited away from public footpaths and public areas and will help the rangers’ team to understand more about wildlife and its movements within the forest.

The county council has created this short film called Deer Watch which captures the nocturnal and daytime activity of deer within the country park. The film is available via the county council’s YouTube Channel.

Paul Cook, Nottinghamshire County Council’s Assistant Site Manager at Sherwood Forest, and Barbara have reviewed footage they have already captured from the first two months of the project.

Paul said: “We hope to capture a range of different wildlife and seasonal changes so aim to run this project for around 15 months in the first instance. Some of the footage we have already captured is remarkable, especially being able to get so close to deer, for example.”

The cameras are set up within natural habitats for a couple of weeks at a time, away from public areas, and the batteries and memory card capacity allow the team to leave the camera running without checks over a short period such as this. The cameras only film when there is movement in shot, so would be activated in instances such as when a deer is grazing.

Councillor John Knight, Committee Chairman for Culture, at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “Photographs have enabled us to learn so much about wildlife in Sherwood Forest for many years and this new nature film shows just what is possible with today’s technology to help us learn even more about life for animals such as deer within Sherwood’s natural habitats.”

Barbara Meyer runs Big Cat Photography, and is a specialist in wildlife and nature photography. In countries such as Africa, her work aims to help endangered Big Cat species to raise awareness of their situation and conservation work. This latest project is part of Barbara’s work to focus on British wildlife.

It is hoped the project will confirm current understanding of what wildlife species live in Sherwood Forest, learn about the wildlife’s behaviour and their movements, i.e. how far they roam and also provide photographic and video material for educational purposes on British wildlife.

In addition, Barbara has started to also take photos of birds at the feeding stations around the nature reserve. This should provide information about the different bird species and their distribution throughout the forest area. Barbara will produce reports about sightings and behaviour on a monthly basis. These reports will include details about which bird and wildlife species have been captured or just seen at the different feeding station.

View Nottinghamshire County Council’s Deer Watch video, in partnership with Barbara Meyer here on the county council’s YouTube Channel: –
http://youtu.be/QnfVqc9rYH0