WEBCAMS of North Yorkshire owls and kestrels have gone viral around the world.
Wildlife artist and filmmaker Robert E Fuller’s webcams show the day to day lives of animals in his garden and the countryside around his art gallery in Thixendale.
The footage is streamed live 24 hours a day on YouTube channel and up to 20,000 people worldwide tune in daily, with some viewers as far away as South Korea, Japan, The Philippines and the USA.
Robert started sharing the wildlife footage during lockdown when fans of his artwork expressed a “need for nature and green spaces.”
The channel now boasts a total of 120 million views and the webcams have been picked up all over the world.
They were even shown at a bowling alley bar in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which switched from sports coverage to Robert's live feed of owls.
A family also watched the webcams as they queued for the Statue of Liberty in New York.
Robert said: “I’ve always wanted to learn more about the daily lives of the animals I paint, but I had no idea so many other people were as fascinated as I am in their secret lives.”
Niels Van Dalen, a bartender at the bowling alley bar in Rotterdam where the owls are shown, switched the bar TV to the webcams the day that the barn owl chick was due to hatch.
Since then, Niels explained that many people who come for the bowling also enjoy the owl cams.
He said: “It’s so much more peaceful than the sports where everyone is shouting”.
Niels first found the webcams whilst off work due to an illness.
Robert explained that many people have found the channel after struggling with illnesses or loneliness.
He said that the channel has also been beneficial for people with learning difficulties.
Robert said he received an email from parents of children with learning difficulties, praising his videos because they are “the only time we can get our kids to sit still.”
Now, Robert said that an online community has been created on the videos with viewers from all over the world sharing their cultures and beliefs with others, which is something he is “very proud” of.
Robert said the webcams follow the lives of the animals, and fans tune in to check what the animals are doing.
He said: “I think it provides comfort to some people. I’ve had people who have children with autism tell me that the stream calms them down and I once even had a message from a Ukrainian family who told me how it brought them peace at such a turbulent time.”
The live nature webcams can be found on Robert E Fuller's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU0LJ9et5Tb3m7COFzShgLg
Video: Robert E Fuller
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