Springwatch

[boxerman]

My Badger videos are slowly improving and the latest one, uploaded to Springwatch Twitter received this:

BBC Springwatch favorited your Tweet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMEf6xs ... e=youtu.be

[smojo]

Nice one mate. I'm liking the introduction of extra lighting, it adds more depth and definition to the shots. Might be worth trying to extend it's "on-time" if possible. Also like the fact that you've taken shots from different angles. They are very playful aren't they?

[boxerman]

Thanks, Smojo. I'm reasonably happy with what I'm getting now but lighting could still do with being better. The additional lighting is actually the 2nd cam and placement isn't as good as it could be - ideally it needs to be directly behind the sett but that's a main run and I don't think they'd be happy... The next vid will show one virtually climbing up the tripod to look at the cam.... What I really need is a separate, self contained lighting system in the background but I can't find anything that's likely to do the job - most are mains powered which isn't an option - there are one or two 12V ones but they only have light sensors and no PIR so they'd be on all night and with the listed power consumption even an SLA batt would only be good for one night so not really an option. Yes, I could increase vid length on the one by the sett to 60 seconds (currently running at 40) but the 2 downsides would be the volume of video and battery life - I now have a pair of 7AH SLA's and a pair of 12 AH SLA's that I'm swopping over every couple of weeks. The cam near the sett is currently taking around 6 hours of video a week!!! That's time consuming to go through and I'm throwing about 95% away simply cos I don't have storage space - the 7AH batts are flat as a pancake in a little over a couple of weeks....

Can't believe just how nimble and quick they are - mind you, Feb is prime mating season so it may quieten down a little soon... Another week or two should see cubs being born so hopefully two or three months I might start getting some good vid of this years cubs emerging.

Considering building a mammal trap with a cam so I can catch that mouse close up and personal....

[Dexter's Shed]

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Considering building a mammal trap with a cam so I can catch that mouse close up and personal....

here's an easy one to make and cost penny's
http://youtu.be/QDgAuVK1Br0

[boxerman]

Thanks Dexter but not quite what I meant. Not after physically catching anything - - more like the mammal traps where you put bait and flour on the the floor so you can see footprints and tell what's around but with the addition of a camera to catch photos rather than the actual animal.

[SimonFisher]

... I now have a pair of 7AH SLA's and a pair of 12 AH SLA's that I'm swopping over every couple of weeks ... the 7AH batts are flat as a pancake in a little over a couple of weeks ...

Have you considered leisure batteries? The last ones I bought were 85 amp-hour.

[SimonFisher]

Considering building a mammal trap with a cam so I can catch that mouse close up and personal....

here's an easy one to make and cost penny's
http://youtu.be/QDgAuVK1Br0

Thanks Dexter but not quite what I meant. Not after physically catching anything - - more like the mammal traps where you put bait and flour on the the floor so you can see footprints and tell what's around but with the addition of a camera to catch photos rather than the actual animal.

Pleased that you clarified boxerman.

Disturbing though to see that someone might advocate trapping a mammal in a plastic bottle trap just for the purpose of photographing it. Must be quite stressful for the animal. There was me thinking we'd moved on.

[Dexter's Shed]

Disturbing though to see that someone might advocate trapping a mammal in a plastic bottle trap just for the purpose of photographing it. Must be quite stressful for the animal. There was me thinking we'd moved on.

I good way to have a dig at me, without digging at me, if you watched the video you'll see it's a chinese guy, and anything goes on over there, they eat cats & dogs don't you know, I didn't say that we use this type of trap, just that it cost pennies to make, I wouldn't advocate trapping any animal for photo purposes, I'd tell people to use break neck traps, sorted

[boxerman]

Now, now children, behave yourselves... We're all here 'cos we have one thing in common - in most other ways we're probably very different and we're never going to agree on everything......

Thanks for the thoughts re a leisure battery, Simon. It is something I've considered but resisted for various reasons 1) the physical size and weight (could get away with that where they are right now). 2) They would have to sit on the ground where they're vulnerable to badgers/squirrels chewing the cables - the smaller ones I have strapped part way up the tripod and pretty much out of the way. 3) Voltage- the 6210's I'm currently using would be fine on 12V but most trail cams only use 6V - could have used 12V SLA's but deliberately went for 6V so they can be used on all as I'm having such great fun with these that I can see a few more ending up in the stable and it would be good for all batts to fit all cameras to prevent expensive mistakes..

So far it's been absolutely fascinating watching a whole badger family going about their normal daily life even if the quality of video has been disappointing - it's got quite addictive and I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity to be able to do this but I also have to keep reminding myself that everything I spend on this is funds not going into the fund for buying my woodland.... I also have to make the most of it whilst the opportunity is there - the sett is in my Mum's garden and she's 91 and not getting any younger so access here is finite.

[jennysmate]

Would it be possible to install a video camera and run the cable back to the house?
Of course you would have to sort out lights aswell, but you could watch it live and record hours of it onto a hard drive, with no worry about batteries and running out of memory.