trail cameras and bird box cameras

[Dexter's Shed]

hi all, thought I'd post up another 5 minute video, it's taken from one of our maplin trail cameras, lots of 20 second clips stuck together, as we were curious to see what was feeding around the newly installed pheasant feeder, although pheasant feeders are normally used by those people who raise them to shoot, I have no intention of doing that, I might however catch and remove those pesky squirrels, as I'm sure they would take great delight in removing chicks from the many bird boxes I've positioned

http://youtu.be/JYrr_Pivfy4

as already mention, I've started putting up multiple bird nesting boxes, and as inquisitive as I am, would love to be able to see inside one, should a bird decide to rear a brood in it, now there are many types of bird box camera packages out there, as always I opted for the cheapest I could find, which actually worked in my favour for once, as most of the more expensive units need a 240v power supply to run the camera, so no good for the woods, mine however uses power from the laptop that you plug it into, so the box can be installed and the lead run to somewhere, ours goes inside a caravan, but you could just leave it dangling at the bottom of the tree with a waterproof bag over the usb connector, or if you have a ladder, leave it rolled up out of reach, if your unlucky enough to get unwanted visitors in your woods

here is the link to the unit I bought

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231179548593? ... 1423.l2649

you need to follow the instructions that come with it and download the "FREE" software for the camera drivers and to watch the picture, there appears to be no way of hitting a record button, but there is a snapshot button, but after playing about with the software, if you use the "streaming" function, this will record what your viewing

PRO'S; its only £30
CON'S; I think the entrance hole is a little low, they put it there as the camera takes up space in the top, so the nest-box could do with being longer in height to accommodate for that, but then I suppose it would push the price up

so in true Dexter style I've already started thinking on how to make better and cheaper, of course the easy solution on the nest box is make your own from the many logs you have, so this I will be doing, we want a good 8" to 10" between hole and base of box, then around 2" above for the camera

buying cameras from evil bay from my favourite country of china you can get these cheap as chips

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270794218857? ... 1423.l2649

you'll then need a 5mtr extension usb cable

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251172664855? ... 1423.l2649

so you'll see, you can buy the tech bits for under £5, and a bit of work by yourself building the boxes, the plastic window in the side of the one I bought is totally ineffective and not needed, as the cameras have their own light source, once fitted inside your box you can view the picture before installation, choose the amount of light needed, then tape up the control dial, roll the wire up and place this above the camera under the box roof to keep watertight, as you'll only be lighting up the box for a few minutes daily or even weekly, this should not cause the birds any distress

[oldclaypaws]

Very entertaining video Ratty. Just wondering how the grain comes out of your 'feeder', is there some hopper arrangement at the bottom?

Those squizzers are real characters. I trust when you say 'remove' that's a euphemism for 'permanently off this mortal coil', as releasing them elsewhere is a no-no. Have to say I'm less fond off them than I was, someone has just had all the bark on my Cherry sapling as a snack- Starting to see why people use tree guards. I've a large hornbeam a friend gave me, if that is 'had at' by them, it may be war, but think it'll have to be lethal traps, I'm too whimpy to pull the trigger on one.

We inherited an old milk churn with holes in the bottom someone used as a pheasant feeder, I might give it a go. Must commend you on the pro-active approach you have to your wood, you're certainly getting the most from it, enjoy seeing all your latest antics.

[Dexter's Shed]

basically a spring that they peck at, as below

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Duty-Sp ... 338c463693


as for traps, kania traps as I use are quite expensive at around £50 each, if your good on the woodwork, you can make cubby boxes to place a fenn trap inside

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fenn-Squirrel ... 19e995d55c

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Fenn-Trap ... 19eaea6e19

these are just as deadly

[Tarrel]

Very impressive video! Would you mind me asking what model of camera you got from Maplins? I'm thinking of getting one. The Swann one seems to be well-priced with good reviews.

Thanks

[oldclaypaws]

Maplins trail camera looks good, but their porridge isn't very hot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3ZwNEte3Dw

[Dexter's Shed]

hi Tarrel,

yes swan, heres a review from you tube, it's not me by the way,lol

http://youtu.be/UcTBxaHJT0w

[Tarrel]

Cheers. Think I'll pick one up. Some of the reviews refer to a delay between the motion being detected and the photo being taken. Has this been an issue for you?

[Dexter's Shed]

the more expensive cameras have a shorter delay, I think these are around 2 seconds, and yes a few times I've recorded nothing but trees, but I have two, set up near each other, so what one misses, the other normally catches, also they are both set to record 20 second video's, so if you miss with one recording, you normally catch it on the next, as in areas such as the bird feeding area, I can end up with 200 plus 20 second clips in a day,

[SimonFisher]

There's been discussion about trail cameras previously on the forum - see http://www.swog.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1125&p=9004&hilit=stealth#p9004 for example.

When we bought ours, there wasn't much information or reviews to look at first and it does have a bit of a delay between sensing something and starting to capture. Getting an empty shot or the back end of a deer as it walks out of view is not unknown. Using ours with the 12-volt power cable and a large leisure battery instead of fitting ones inside the camera means we can leave it gathering shots for many days. The limiting factor is the card filling up rather than running out of power as we found with regular batteries.

[Dexter's Shed]

there wasn't much information or reviews to look at first and it does have a bit of a delay between sensing something and starting to capture. Getting an empty shot or the back end of a deer as it walks out of view is not unknown. Using ours with the 12-volt power cable and a large leisure battery instead of fitting ones inside the camera means we can leave it gathering shots for many days. The limiting factor is the card filling up rather than running out of power as we found with regular batteries.

I suppose it depends on its usage, if for example I was using it for pest control, to capture feeding times of a fox, then it would not be any good, because of misses, but using it in the wood, there's no time restraints or rush
battery life we have never had a problem with, leaving them turned on for weeks, and we changed the SD card straight away for a 8GB film quality