I have always loved wildlife and actually came to the UK to become a wildlife film maker, but sadly didn’t have the contacts to pursue that career.

I love the migrating birds and preserving our estate to maximise all nature and food traditions.

Pine Martins, these are excellent climbers and often found near streams. They build huge nests high up in pine trees

Golden Orieles, these beautiful birds are commonly seen eating ripe fruit, especially figs.

Barn owls are less common in the last 10 years and I have found several dead in the barn, predated by larger raptors

The Redstart, nests every year in our car port. It is such a cheerful summer migrant and flies around the pergola when we are eating.

The red backed shrike or butcher bird as it often named because it catches insects and impales them on thorns

The Bee-eater is a bird I often see in Africa or nesting on cliff edges. During pre-stormy weather they often congregate very high over the pool in large flocks of 15-20 eating insects and making lots of chirpy noises.

The hoopoe is another summer visitor from Africa and is seen probing for ants on the lawn, high on the oak tree by the car port or fluttering across the valley – the white bars on its wings are very clear to see during flight.

We also have lots of Little Owls, Nightjars that used to lie on the track in the evening enjoying the warmth from the day, cooing Turtle Doves, Peregrine Falcons, Hobby, Buzzard, Sparrow Hawks, Woodpeckers. We also have Porcupines, Foxes and Badgers – when we had a large fig tree by the south terrace they would come and eat the figs while we sat having dinner on the east terrace.

There are large herds of Wild Boar, ‘Cinghiale’ but they are very quiet and secretive; your car headlights may pick them up at night. They are harmless preferring to disappear into the night. The locals shoot about 200/ year in the valley, it is a natural free range food source. It is very much a cult thing and in Italians dna.

The turtle doves are usually seen on the wires around the house or flying across the valley, sometimes eating stones on the track. This is such a beautifully delicately patterned bird which sadly is becoming rarer due to the shooting in southern Europe and theNorth African coast.