September 2007Wildlife Windows Ltd is formed by Jason and Brian, to continue the work of its earlier incarnations under the auspices of the Chalk & Hawks Project, for which EU and AONB funding ended in December 2006. Wildlife Windows Ltd will operate in a fully commercial environment, without the support of public funding. This will open the door to private investment, needed to help the business grow.
Summer 2007Jason records video footage from a remote camera on one of his Hobby baskets. This is probably the first time such images have been recorded on this way.
History SectionDecember 2006The Chalk & Hawks Project funding comes to an end. The project work continues while Jason and Brian consider how best to make it economically sustainable.
August 2006This summer saw a big push on badger events. Chalk & Hawks Project held its first 'Bats and Badgers Barbecue' at Bookham Farm and Jason lead a series of badger watching events for NT Kingston Lacy using cameras placed near to a sett.
April 2006Otters are captured on video by a C&H Project camera on at an old water mill in the centre of Wimborne.
March 2006Jason is contracted by Forestry Commission Scotland to visit their key wildlife sites (e.g. Eagle and Osprey nests) and produce a report with recommendation for improvements to their wildlife camera infrastructure associated visitor services.
January 2006The Chalk & Hawks Project wins additional funding from Dorset AONB to operate a wildlife camera sales and hire scheme. This carries the name 'Wildlife Windows' into the next stage of it's development.
July 2005The Chalk & Hawks Project captures video footage of badgers UNDERGROUND in the artificial sett at Bookham Farm.
June 2005Jason discovers that one of the sparrowhawk nests being monitored using our cameras has two females! Each bird has her own clutch of eggs and they share incubation. Jason will later publish this observation of polygynous sparrowhawks in British Birds.
May 2005The name 'Wildlife Windows' is first used by the C&H Project to describe our highly innovative wildlife camera scheme at NT Kingston Lacy. We employ a young biology masters graduate (Tom Martin) to help with hiring portable monitors for visitors to use to plug into cameras trained on nests around the grounds of Kingston Lacy house.
July 2004The Barn Owl Dispersal Project gets off the ground. Nine young barn owls are fitted with radio tags and are tracked by a group of C&H Project volunteers.
May - June 2004The Chalk & Hawks Project installs the first buzzard and sparrowhawk cameras. We are working with National Trust Kingston Lacy, providing AV images and giving guided walks to their visitors.
January 2004Jason Fathers is appointed at Project Officer to the Chalk & Hawks Project. Jason and Brian will later become the founders of Wildlife Windows Ltd (in 2007).
December 2003The Chalk & Hawks Project is awarded EU Leader+ funding for 3 years. Chalk & Hawks is a wildlife tourism initiative using audio-visual technology to bring people closer to wildlife for the benefit of visitors, nature conservation and the rural economy. See
www.chalkandhawks.org.uk Winter 2002Dorset Owl and Hawk Group (DOHG) is started by two bird ringing friends, one (Brian) with a background in electronics design and ornithological research, and the other (Danny) a nature conservation professional with Dorset County Council. It is from DOHG that the Chalk & Hawks Project, and then Wildlife Windows will later evolve.
