Pennyhooks Farm

16/10/2026

I'm delighted to announce that Pennyhooks' resident photographer took 2nd place in the British Society of Underwater Photographers annual 'Best of British' competition. All images in the portfolio were taken at Pennyhooks Farm. Many of you will recognise the bridge, where all of these images were taken. The night shot of the crayfish is a particularly tricky one needing 4 flash guns to light up the night scene and a long exposure to catch the night sky.

These images and others have been used by our students to create their own art from nature. Getting the photographs into competitions is a great way of raising publicity for Pennyhooks because the images can attract lots of attention.

For the next 4 weeks, you can see these images on the Society's front page at the link below, alongside the winner Tom Ingram who entered a beautiful portfolio of marine images.

https://bsoup.org.uk

15/10/2026

Pennyhooks often benefits from local people doing amazing things to support our cause. This weekend, we have a few dedicated walkers hiking 15 miles around the nearby town of Faringdon, to raise funds for Pennyhooks.

If you are able to support them, please give via Faringdon Big Walk's JustGiving Page raising funds for Pennyhooks Farm.

Help Bethia Thomas raise money to support Pennyhooks Farm Trust UK

14/10/2026

Another exciting Wildlife Wednesday encounter with the otters. The trail camera video shows a mother with 2 almost fully-grown kits leaving the water near an old willow tree. A short while later after they ran overland, a camera trap caught them re-entering the brook, where you'll see follow-my-leader as mum's tail disappears below the surface with both youngsters still in hot pursuit.

09/10/2026

We've been monitoring 2 of many entry and exit points that the otters use in Pennyhooks Brook. Look closely: there are 2 otters in both pictures of these beautiful creatures. We're also seeing other wildlife in these good access points for thirsty animals. Here's a fox, but others have been water rails, magpies, crows, wood pigeons, badgers, squirrels, mink, roe and muntjac deer.

06/10/2026

Article in the Royal Photographic Society community magazine about how wildlife photography is helping some of our students at Pennyhooks.

https://rps.org/news/bristol/2026/october-2026/photography-with-purpose-paul-colley-and-pennyhooks-farm-trust/

30/09/2026

Hurrah for Wildlife Wednesday. Full video this week to show a range of wildlife including otters, foxes, deer and birds. But mainly an extended look at some interesting activity near one of the badger setts.

You'll see a combination of mutual grooming and play fighting from 2 young badgers almost at full size now, with their mum making an occasional appearance. Badgers are social animals and they like to keep the fleas at bay! Our autistic young adults take a great interest in this and other aspects of life on the farm, about which they make their own observations.

23/09/2026

We're staying with an otter theme for Wildlife Wednesday as they remain quite active at the moment. This week one of our trail cameras picked up an otter eating a crayfish snack on his favourite bank-side pit stop. You can hear the crunching through shell. He came back the same evening and the camera trap caught a picture just before he dived back to continue his travels upstream. Otters can range up to 30Km.

As a prelude to next week, I've included an image of the badger siblings that we documented earlier this year. They moved sett but we're now eyes-on again through a new trail camera position and will let you know how they coped with the hot and very dry summer.

The student's wildlife drawings are in full flow and we're starting to select images for this year's wildlife calendar. I've seen some beautiful drawings!

16/09/2026

Short but very sweet Wildlife Wednesday. Our trails cameras caught 2 rapidly-maturing otter kits exploring the brook this week, with one clearly hunting for crayfish in the shallows. And a roe deer with its new fawn, born this month. This is the first time that we've seen it.

I've added 2 still images caught by the camera traps. One of a young badger feasting on un-seasonally early juicy blackberries. And a large male otter on his way to the bridge over the brook. We know he goes there because of his tracks through the field and frequent spraint left around the area.

Our students are busy making some beautiful wildlife drawings from recent photographs taken on the farm. They will appear in this year's calendar!

02/09/2026

Wildlife Wednesday. Less than a minute to see some recent highlights: a young badger foraging independently; an otter with 2 kits; a young fox foraging independently; and a polecat! They are all doing quite well despite the recent unkind weather. Our students have started a new term and I look forward to sharing some of the summer wildlife highlights with them.

01/09/2026

A wonderful day spent with colleagues at a Pennyhooks Farm Trust staff training day prior to the new term. Fabulous to welcome 2 more staff members to the fold. And to learn about the Trust's ethos and core values, the nuances of working with our autistic young adults and to receive refresher training on first aid. I'm so envious of the new lawn mower!