YOU probably saw that Carling Black Label advert featuring a daredevil squirrel completing an assault course.

But a wild stoat running an obstacle course (complete with maze) that's twice as long?

Only the Thixendale naturalist and wildlife artist Robert Fuller could come up with that idea.

He built the course in the front garden of his home and gallery on a Wolds hillside, and patiently trained the animal - one of a family of wild stoats he had been observing - to complete it for a food reward.

He then secretly filmed the stoat as it ran the course, twisting through a maze, and leaping along a series of branches and hurdles.

Press readers can see the extraordinary video that resulted on our website today. It forms part of a new exhibition that opens next Saturday at Mr Fuller's Thixendale gallery - and will be screened on national television on BBC’s The One Show later this year.

"Stoats are incredibly agile animals," Mr Fuller said. "They are also quite funny to watch and the way the stoat took the maze in its stride really gave me an insight into its character."

Mr Fuller spent a year secretly filming owls, kestrels, stoats and weasels in order to study them up close for the new collection of paintings that will feature alongside film and video footage in his exhibition, Natural Wonders of the Wildlife World.

“I like to try to capture the individual character of the animals and birds in my paintings and so I spend a long time watching them in their natural habitat,” he explained .

“This year I hid 12 cameras inside nest boxes in the garden and the surrounding countryside.

“I also trained cameras onto a weasel’s nest and a family of stoats. I captured the most incredible footage and saw things I’ve never seen before."

The video clips you'll be able to watch at the exhibition include that footage of the stoat - and film of a brutal battle between a kestrel and a barn owl inside a nest.

In a gentler vein, the exhibition also includes photos and paintings of a pair of robins which tried to nest in the spare wheel of Mr Fuller's Toyota Landcruiser.

The birds eventually gave up - only to nest in the grille of his wife Victoria's car instead, where they successfully raised a brood of fledglings.

"Robins often have more than one brood," Mr Fuller said. "My only worry now is where are they going to nest next!?"

Natural Wonders of the Wildlife World runs at The Robert Fuller Gallery, Thixendale, from June 6-28. A number of events will accompany the exhibition, including birdwatching, nature walks, falconry, a mini zoo and bushcraft lessons for children.

To find out more visit www.robertefuller.com