The scientists who set up this expensive wildlife trap disguised to look like a piece of tree bark might be regretting it after it was smashed by a hungry woodpecker.

The team could only look on helplessly as the wildlife camera, that is triggered to film every time there is movement, was pecked repeatedly by the woodpecker until it was destroyed.

The image of the camera with pieces missing was then shared online after the incident was filmed in the Nizhnesvirsky Nature Reserve, in the Lodeynopolsky District in the Russian federal subject of Leningrad Oblast.

By pecking, woodpeckers pierce the bark of the tree, which allows them to gain access to insects and larvae. It seems the camera that looks like a piece of bark and even has leaf on the front was too tempting to resist.

The boffins that shared the footage with Newsflash and jokingly noted that perhaps the woodpecker was trying to protect the privacy of woodland wildlife.

The video was also posted online with the same message saying: “Vandalism in the reserve! The black woodpecker decided that there should be no interference with the personal life of animals and birds on his site – and destroyed the camera trap.

“Zhelna [the name of the woodpecker] quickly discovered the camouflaged device, and for several days methodically hit the camera.

“Researchers who arrived to check the camera trap had to state with regret that it would not be possible to get new frames from this place for a long time.”

The video that the camera managed to record before being badly damaged shows the black woodpecker pecking at the camera, with only its head visible.

They noted that once the camera had been broken, the woodpecker lost interest in it.

Staff at the Department of Environmental Education For The Nizhne-Svirsky Reserve noted that they could only watch helplessly as it was destroyed and they had to go and retrieve it.

And as the picture shows, the device was in a very bad state and now needs serious repairs before it can be put back into action.