00:07Music
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00:07Music
00:07Music
01:27Okay, so hello my friends, and welcome to the third episode in my camera trap diaries
01:37for this year.
01:39And I've come back down to the ravine.
01:42I've just recovered the trail cam that I put on the tree up on the embankment just up there,
01:50overlooking what I suspected was a badger den.
01:54I only got three recordings on it, and the only thing I could make out on it with any definite
02:04sort of identification was a couple of roe deer that came down past the dens.
02:14There's been a little bit of activity.
02:15There was a whole load, three, four, five shots, I think, that were a blackbird.
02:22And then the other ones I can't quite make out, so I'll have to look at those on the laptop
02:27later.
02:29It's been out for 11 days now.
02:34I've had quite a busy week with my workshop for the pelicans.
02:46And in that time, unfortunately, we also found an abandoned puppy, which had been either hit by a car
02:55or trampled on by buffalo or kicked by a human or god knows what.
03:03And he had a really nastily broken leg and was a bit bashed up, so I took it in to
03:10the vets
03:10and they held him for a week, six days, put him on a drip, did some blood tests on him,
03:24that
03:25sort of thing, x-rayed his leg, which turns out is broken in three places.
03:34And I went yesterday and collected him from the vet, and we have to wait until next week
03:39for another round of x-rays to see if he can have an operation to save his leg.
03:46So that's been a bit traumatic, to say the least, very upsetting.
03:53So I've got him at home at the moment, when I brought him back home, gave him a bit of
03:58a bath because he hasn't been washed at all since we found him, got all the grime and muck
04:04off him, cleaned out his wound, which he had a little wound on the cheek, which seems to
04:08be healing okay.
04:11And yeah, I've just got to look after him and wait until next week to see what the next round
04:16of x-ray shows, but really saddening to find such a poorly little puppy.
04:26It's an absolutely gorgeous little thing as well.
04:30Anyhow, so it's been, like I said, 11 days since I've been back here.
04:37This is, in fact, day 12, so it's been out 11 nights.
04:40And for the camera up there at the badger's den not to have recorded anything moving in
04:46and out of the den, I'm assuming that it is not in use, at least, for the moment.
04:53So I've come down now to my camera trap.
04:57God knows if anything's on it.
05:00Maybe the deer that came through the trail cam on the badger's den have come past here
05:05and had their photo taken.
05:08We shall see.
05:10I doubt it's firing.
05:12I'm sure after 11 days the batteries are well dead.
05:17But we shall see just at the location here.
05:21So this is the camera, which I camouflaged up.
05:27And the trigger and the trail cam is up there on the tree
05:30and the other flash looking at me, and it hasn't triggered now,
05:35which I'm assuming means that the batteries are completely dead.
05:39So I shall, depending if there's anything on it or not,
05:45either break it down, take it away, clean it out, try and find another location,
05:50or replace batteries, of which I've got plenty in my backpack,
05:55and leave it out for a bit longer.
05:57Or maybe even if I go up the ravine a bit further
06:00and see if I can find another location for it, maybe I'll put it there, we'll see.
06:04So let me just do that, and I'll get back to you with any results.
06:08Bear with me.
06:12Let's have a look at the trail cam first.
06:19Oh, the badger.
06:26And the camera didn't fire for it.
06:31So let's see if there's anything on it.
06:54Zero. Not a single shot.
06:57Okay, which means this ravine is not being used,
07:00other than that badger for which this camera didn't fire.
07:04Okay, so that being the case,
07:06the camera hasn't fired at all.
07:08Not a single shot.
07:10Only one badger came through here, no deer.
07:14Which means this is probably not a worthwhile location for me to pursue, unfortunately.
07:22So I'm going to break down the kit, put it away,
07:25and just go for a bit of a hike further up the mountain,
07:28see if I can find another location.
07:31Or I might take it back home,
07:33give it a proper clean out,
07:38and rethink the whole setup.
07:41Okay, see you in a bit.
07:45That was a bit disappointing,
07:47not to have any pictures whatsoever
07:51on the camera,
07:52and very limited recordings on the trail cams,
07:57but that's par for the course with camera trapping.
08:01Anyway, so I decided to come up the mountain a fair way,
08:07to see if I might be lucky enough to find another location.
08:12And I found this intersection here of paths,
08:17so there's one path that goes up behind me,
08:20oops, wrong way, this way.
08:22And that comes down the hill this way, behind me.
08:25And then this one up on the hill forks,
08:29and comes down past this lovely tree here.
08:34So what I've done, and it's full of moss and everything,
08:37so it looks really pretty.
08:38So what I've done is I've set the camera up down here,
08:42with both flashes.
08:44There's one flash illuminating the tree,
08:47and the other flash illuminating the path.
08:50So they're both direct flashes.
08:53I really need to set myself up with a third flash,
08:56because this would be ideal for a three-flash setup, I think.
09:00The pier is really difficult to position,
09:03because I don't want it just pointing generically up the hill,
09:07where the deer might come from,
09:09because I suspect this is a deer path.
09:12I want it to actually trigger when the deer crosses,
09:16or whatever animal comes across,
09:18passes a certain point.
09:21So as they're in frame when the flash goes off,
09:25just in case they do bolt,
09:27they do get scared by the flash.
09:30Although from experience,
09:31the deer don't seem to be too bothered by it.
09:35So I've set that up on the tree,
09:37on a branch here,
09:39overlooking the path,
09:40the branch of the path that goes down that way,
09:43which is hopefully the one they'll use,
09:46which is the one I want in frame,
09:48with the tree, etc.
09:49It makes for a nice composition.
09:52So fingers crossed they will come down that way as well.
09:57What else?
09:57And I've set the trial cam,
09:58one trial cam,
09:59next to the camera down there,
10:01and another one all the way up the path,
10:03at the top of this little hill here,
10:06looking down,
10:08in case something comes up the path rather than down it.
10:12So,
10:13I've changed out all the batteries,
10:15so they're all fresh,
10:16good to go.
10:18So all that remains is for me to camouflage that up a little bit,
10:23so it's not so obvious.
10:26Make sure it's all firing,
10:28and I'll be back in a few days' time to see if there's anything on it.
10:32So,
10:33thanks for bearing with me,
10:35I shall catch up with you in a few days' time.
10:37See you then.
10:39This is probably not the scene that you were expecting to see next in this video,
10:43and I shall try to explain why,
10:46what's happened.
10:49So it's been two weeks since I relocated the camera trap up on the mountain,
10:56and I only managed to get up there yesterday,
11:02mostly because I was ill with flu,
11:06I had a couple of days guiding,
11:09then I've been looking after the pup as well,
11:11running him into the vets and what have you,
11:14so I've been a little bit preoccupied to get it back up there,
11:19and I managed to get up there yesterday,
11:21and disappointingly enough,
11:22there was absolutely nothing on the camera.
11:25On the DSLR,
11:26absolutely zero photos,
11:28not even a false trigger.
11:30The trail cams picked up
11:31a little bit of activity
11:34from mice,
11:36birds,
11:37one of the trail cams picked up
11:39a little stone martin,
11:41and that was it.
11:42So I decided
11:45to pack it all up,
11:46bring it back,
11:49and clean it out
11:51and see if I can find another location.
11:54And whilst I was doing that,
11:55I had a thought that
11:56I've been hearing little owls
11:58in and around the garden
12:01and the whole area really
12:04over the last couple of weeks
12:07and a barn owl as well
12:09screeching for a few nights,
12:12so I thought
12:13I have this dead tree
12:15back here in the garden
12:17and maybe
12:18they're using it as a perch.
12:20There's a little bit of evidence
12:22of it's being used with poop.
12:25There's evidence of woodpecker
12:28hacking away at it
12:29a little bit.
12:30So I thought,
12:31why not try and set the camera up here
12:33and see if we might get lucky.
12:36So I did all that
12:37when I brought the kit back yesterday.
12:40I'll show you quickly
12:41how I set it up.
12:43The tripod, as you can see,
12:45is on the tree.
12:47It looks rather precarious,
12:49but what I've done is
12:49I've put these brackets,
12:53screwed these brackets
12:54into the tree,
12:55holding the legs in place
12:58to hold the camera securely.
13:00I've got the camera here
13:02facing the limb
13:03that I suspect they're using.
13:05One of the flashes
13:06is on the tripod
13:07looking upwards
13:09and then on the other dead limb
13:11I have the other flash,
13:13the pier sensor
13:14and the trail cam.
13:16And the view is looking
13:17towards the mountain there
13:20in the hope that
13:21if we get a long exposure
13:22and a clear night
13:23we might get some starlight as well.
13:26So
13:28that's what I set up yesterday
13:33without any expectations
13:34of actually getting anything
13:35and lo and behold
13:36I got this image
13:37last night
13:40which blew me away.
13:42Just a single shot
13:43of a little owl
13:45landing on the limb
13:47and
13:50even the trail cam
13:51didn't pick anything up.
13:53So
13:54finally
13:54success at last
13:55in my own backyard
13:56after all the effort
13:58of hiking up the mountains
13:59setting it up
14:00trail cams
14:01and what have you
14:01with no luck
14:03and I get a result
14:04in my own garden
14:07such as
14:07camera trapping.
14:09Anyway
14:09so I shall leave that up
14:10for a few nights more
14:12in the hope
14:13that we might
14:14record some more
14:15pictures
14:17and
14:17I shall wrap up
14:19this video.
14:21I'm going to go
14:22for a hike up
14:22that mountain
14:24with the dog
14:25in the hope
14:26of finding another location.
14:27I'd really like
14:28to find one
14:28with some running water
14:30if possible
14:33and
14:33in the meantime
14:34I'll leave this up
14:36but all of that
14:37will be
14:37hopefully
14:38in the next one.
14:39So
14:39thank you so much
14:40for following along
14:41I hope you've enjoyed
14:43and I shall see you
14:45again very very soon.
14:46Thanks so much
14:47bye for now.
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