By Robert Fuller

This month I am celebrating Britain’s natural heritage with an art exhibition dedicated to the best of this country’s wildlife.

The event will feature new paintings, limited edition prints and short films featuring the UK’s most impressive wild creatures. And I’ll be asking visitors to the gallery choose their favourites.

People travel abroad to watch wildlife and yet we have stunning animals right here in Britain.

It’s time we celebrated the creatures hidden in our own gardens and those to be found in the fields and hedgerows of our countryside.

One of this country’s most beautiful birds is the kingfisher - an electric-blue jewel of a bird that is a joy to come across when you are walking near a stream or a river.

I spent many hours filming and watching kingfishers inside their nest for the series of paintings going on display. I loved painting their brilliant plumage.

Also on show will be paintings of red stags. These regal beasts rank among my favourite British wildlife. I travelled to Lochnagar in the Scottish Cairngorms to photograph stags for these paintings.

I will also be showcasing a new collection of original paintings featuring weasels and stoats.

Traditionally these animals have had a poor press, but I challenge anyone who doesn’t think they rank among Britain’s natural treasures.

For their size, they have an admirable tenacity and their characters, when you get to know them, are charming. I spent the last five years getting to know generations of these animals in my garden and filming their secret worlds.

Another of my favourite British species is the hare. I’ve just completed a new composition featuring two hares crouched together on a crisp covering of frosted snow.

When you come across a hare loping along a country lane it can feel like a real privilege – but if you see two or more together it is even more special.

Hares are solitary creatures so when they group together it means that they are courting - and if you are really lucky you may even see them box.

This behaviour is essentially initiated by the females who test the strength of their suitors before selecting a mate.

Most people associate hares boxing with spring, but I’ve seen them exchange blows in deep winter snows. This experience was the inspiration for this new artwork.

Puffins are another species that deserves the status of ‘natural treasure’. Here in Yorkshire we are so lucky to have puffins nesting on our coastal cliffs each year - a fact that needs to be celebrated.

I’m working on a new original painting of a group of puffins for this winter exhibition. The art work follows many happy hours watching a puffin colony at RSPB Bempton Cliffs near Bridlington.

This year I’ve been watching a pair of peregrine falcons nesting on a 100ft tower at Salt End Chemical Park in Hull. It has been fascinating following the lives of these birds - the fastest in the world - as they hunt and breed in this vast industrial landscape.

The experience has inspired a number of new paintings also on show.

I like my paintings to be as realistic as possible in order to do each creature justice. I paint every feather, every hair.

To achieve this I spend many hours photographing animals in their natural habitat.

I also use surveillance cameras and I have nearly 70 wildlife cameras hidden in nest boxes my garden and in the surrounding countryside.

Visitors to my exhibition will be able to see live footage of these owls, kestrels, stoats and weasels as they go about their daily lives - and choose which is their favourite ‘natural treasure!

Natural Treasures: The Best of British Wildlife in Art is on at Robert’s gallery in Thixendale from Nov 9th - Dec 1st. See www.robertefuller.com for more information