DAMAGE caused to a church roof by pesky woodpeckers has been caught on camera by an amateur film maker.

St Nicholas Church, in Church Hill, Laindon, needs to raise £100,000 to repair the spire after it came under attack by the feathered fiends.

The extent of the damage was only realised after amateur film maker and photographer, Aaron Green, 28, from Lee Chapel North, replayed aerial footage he had been taking of the area using his special Quadcopter.

Mr Green said: “I was making a few videos of the local area, and in particular the church, because it’saplace where my family have celebrated a number of weddings and things over the years.

“When I watchedthe film I saw the damage to the roof really clearly.

“I thought the church really needed to see it, so I e-mailed it over.

“They asked me to go down to the church and take another film, so they could get a clearer view of just how bad the damage was.”

According to the church, pigeons get inside the holes created by the woodpeckers and cause damage to the rafters, which in turn causes the roof to leak."