00:00Thank you for listening.
02:00It's been a couple of weeks since I've been back from my filming trip and in true OCD style.
02:08The first thing I did when I got back to base here was come down to the canal and reset
02:14my DSLR camera trap.
02:16And hopefully you will have seen the results of the first few days that that was out for.
02:22I think we've got some nice images there and a good variety of animals as well.
02:27So I'm very happy with that.
02:29But I think I can get better images than those.
02:33And the reason I say that is that I think I've been trying to capture a very wide scene just
02:41here.
02:43And the reason for that is that there's been, there's so many animals that come across and they all use
02:49the crossing in a slightly different way.
02:52So the jackal, as it comes across, gets to the end of the platform, has a sniff around, has a
02:58drink and then jumps across into the water or tries to make it to the other side in one jump.
03:06Whereas the wildcat and the fox and the badger and the beach martin, which I was also really happy to
03:13see, they all use the branch.
03:17The badger sometimes uses the, just crosses through the water as well.
03:21So he's 50-50.
03:25But all the other animals, they use the branch.
03:27And the way I've been framing the shot is to capture both the end of the platform and the branch.
03:34And I've been setting the camera trigger to send its signal as soon as an animal gets to the end
03:44of the platform.
03:45And the result of that is that the shots are really wide and the animal is really small in the
03:50frame.
03:52The other thing with setting the trigger there is that, with the exception of the wildcat, which is unfazed by
03:59the flash completely and just crosses as normal,
04:03be all the other animals, as soon as the flash fires, get a fright and they bolt in the opposite
04:11direction.
04:12So that's the fox.
04:14As soon as the camera flashed, it just turned tail and ran the other way.
04:20Beach martin the same.
04:22The badger the same.
04:23And I have a feeling the jackal the same as well, though I haven't seen it actually do it.
04:30So the second setup that I'm trying, that I tried, I should say, is I switched the camera.
04:38I turned the camera to the left to have just the branch full frame.
04:43And I've set the trigger to fire as soon as the animal gets onto the branch.
04:49So when it's about a third of the way along the branch.
04:52And hopefully that'll give me a more concentrated shot with the animal larger in frame.
04:58The other thing I've adjusted is the lighting.
05:01So the flash, the head-on flash I've moved higher up and reduced the power so it acts more as
05:08a fill.
05:08And the secondary flash I've moved slightly more around to the left to act as a backlight.
05:16I would have liked to put it directly behind.
05:19But because I'm shooting across water, I have nothing to place the flash behind to hide it.
05:25And otherwise I'd have this massive hot spot in the frame.
05:28Unless I should be lucky enough that the animal would block it with its body.
05:34And I'd get a really nice highlighting effect of its fur.
05:39But the way the thing is set up, I can't rely on that.
05:43So it's slightly off frame to the left.
05:45I'm hoping, fingers crossed, that it will still have a similar effect.
05:50So, yeah.
05:51So I set that up.
05:53Let it sit for another few days.
05:54And I've just come back down now to check on it and check the battery status.
06:01And I looked at the trail cam that I have surveying the scene.
06:06And it picked up some amazing behaviour.
06:10The wildcat using the post on the platform as a scratch post.
06:16So it climbed up the post, scratched, had a good scratch, and then jumped down.
06:19Came across the branch, scratched again on the branch, leaving its scent, I'm guessing, as well.
06:27And then on the way back it actually jumped onto the camera.
06:31And then from the camera onto the branch and then crossed over.
06:35The little beach martin, same thing.
06:38Was just running across the branch quite freely.
06:43Plenty of opportunity.
06:47The badger the same, the fox the same.
06:50And the camera didn't fire.
06:52The trigger didn't work for some reason.
06:55And the crazy thing is that when I check it, when I move across, it fires perfectly.
07:00So I have no idea why it didn't fire.
07:03Anyway, so I've switched out the batteries again.
07:07Reset the trigger again.
07:10I've increased the sensitivity slightly in case that was it.
07:15And I've also increased the luminosity slightly so that it triggers.
07:23Because I have it on a night mode at the moment.
07:26Night interval mode.
07:27So that it only triggers during the night time hours.
07:31So I've increased the threshold so that it'll get half light of dawn and dusk as well.
07:37And hopefully that'll do the trick and I'll get some decent images of them.
07:42So that's the situation.
07:45I shall be back in a few days time to check up on it.
07:49And hopefully then we shall have some fantastic images with any luck.
07:54So yeah.
07:56Sorry for the wordiness of this segment.
07:59But I wanted to explain the whole scenario and what's been happening.
08:03In case that is of any use to anyone.
08:07So yeah.
08:08I shall be back in a few days.
08:10And I shall catch up with you then.
08:12See you then.
08:16So hello again.
08:18And as you will notice I am in the room.
08:22And the reason for that is that a couple of days ago it started pouring with rain.
08:27And it's still pouring at the moment.
08:29And forecast to keep raining for the next few days.
08:32So I decided I'd go and recover my camera from the canal.
08:36And see what if anything was on it.
08:38And happily enough I got 13 shots.
08:42And of which 6 were okay.
08:47And that's not for a lack of any technical problem with the camera or the trigger.
08:53Purely because there were very few animals coming across.
08:58The animals that did come across though I'm really happy with it.
09:01And surprisingly enough I got a shot of the golden jackal that I've been after since the beginning.
09:08Because he tried coming across on the branch amazingly enough.
09:12So that's a photo that I'm really happy with.
09:15Also I'm really happy with a shot of the little beach martin that came across.
09:21In terms of the quality of the image I'm super happy.
09:28I think there's still room for improvement in terms of getting a more atmospheric shot if possible.
09:36And I think looking at these images I need to basically improve the lighting even more.
09:44The head on light was slightly too strong again.
09:49And the back light that I wanted was not firing strongly enough.
09:56So those need to improve.
09:58Also needing improvement I think is the angle of the camera.
10:01I thought that I had set it at the same level with the branch.
10:05But looking at these images, especially the one of the beach martin.
10:09It looks like it's still a bit too high.
10:11So I need to drop the level of the camera and bring it more to the animal's eye level.
10:17It's not so evident in the shot of the jackal.
10:23Obviously because it's much bigger and taller than the little martin is.
10:28So those are some lessons for the next time that I set the camera up.
10:33On a different note, you'll remember I mentioned in the previous segment
10:38that I had set the trigger to fire only during the hours of darkness.
10:45And the half-light, dawn and dusk hours.
10:48That meant I missed anything that came across during the day.
10:52Which means that thankfully I didn't get a whole bunch of useless shots of dogs.
10:56Which did come across again.
10:59But it also meant I missed a little weasel that came running across in both directions.
11:06Which I've never seen out here before.
11:08And I'm really happy to know that they exist out here as well.
11:15And then on a different note again, a few weeks ago when I did get back from my filming trip,
11:23I went for a walk one day and I discovered on the edge of this little copse of trees
11:31what I believe to be a badger set.
11:33There's some pretty decent sized holes.
11:36So I set up a trail cam there to watch over the scene.
11:43And happily enough there was a badger movement and also wild boar
11:48and various other small animals, a mouse and a rat even.
11:53And during the day times some birds as well.
11:57So really happy that I've discovered that.
12:01And food for thought, moving forward, how I'm going to proceed to get better quality images
12:08of that whole scene.
12:10Whether it'll be with the camera trap or as spring moves into summer later this year
12:18and the days get longer, maybe actually setting up a hide and getting some shots myself of the badgers
12:25and anything else that might come out.
12:29So yeah, really happy this time with the photos.
12:35And again, looking to improve on the next time that I set up the trap out in the field.
12:43So I hope you found this video interesting and maybe informative
12:48if you're into camera trapping yourself.
12:53And yeah, I look forward to bringing you another one in the very near future.
12:58So only remains for me to say thank you for watching.
13:02Please do click on the like button if you've enjoyed what you've seen
13:06and consider subscribing if you'd like to see more of this sort of thing.
13:13So yeah, thanks again and I shall see you again soon.
13:16Bye for now.
13:35Bye for now.
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