Birds of the Village

Know your tree creepers from your chiff-chaffs? You will after watching this delightful portrait of village life in post-war Britain.

Filmed in villages in Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Northamptonshire in the immediate post-war period, this delightful depiction of village life would have helped calm the Blitz-frayed nerves of city dwellers. The bird footage was captured by Eric Hosking, a pioneering wildlife photographer and the first in his field to make a living from bird photography.

Hosking was a key wildlife educator, known to give over 100 lectures a year, and his photographs graced many a wildlife book. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.