TrailCam Trailer

I notice that all four blog posts in January were on mustelids - polecat, weasel, stoat and otter, so it's time for something different.

I have a lot of trail camera wildlife videos.  They get seen transiently by people on this blog, or the NHSN blog, or on Winterwatch etc, or in Facebook groups but then don't get seen again so I have been wondering if there is anything else to be done with them.  I have easily enough to make a film on otters, or just on wildlife generally, but I lack the script-writing and video editing skills.  As an exercise I made a short trailer to showcase some of the things trail cameras can do - the photo above shows the production process.  When I show videos to people (which is often!) they seem surprised by the quality and the colours, perhaps expecting blurry black and white images, like mine were 10 years ago.  So here is a taste of what trail cameras can do.  I hope you enjoy it.  If you have ideas about what else to do please leave a comment.

The otters have a takeaway

The cubs are over six months old now and are growing fast but they still rely on their mother to catch their food.  As they become more independent they are less often all three close by their mother's side so when she catches a fish there is often no competition for it.  Here one of the cubs shows how to eat a raw fish in 40 seconds, mostly without using its paws.

Otters mainly eat fish of course, but being carnivores they also will be happy with amphibians, crustaceans, small mammals and birds.  Ducklings and other young birds are a delicacy in springtime but occasionally there is the opportunity of something bigger.  One night last week the mother went quickly past one of the cameras with two cubs in very close attendance and something in her mouth.  The view is brief and the other cameras missed it but I worked out she had caught a drake mallard.

By the time they reached the next camera she still had the duck and wasn't letting go. Unfortunately she then took it away as I would have loved to see how she dealt with it.  All three cubs followed, hoping for a share of the spoils.  (The moaning sound is from the mother otter, not the duck!)

The cubs will have to work on their fishing skills before they become independent in a few months’ time but I expect it will be some time before they can catch a duck.

News from StoatCam

Mustelids seem to be taking over the blog and this week there is more news of stoats in the garden.  After all the excitement in October and November it went a bit quiet and almost all my cameras were watching otters, polecats and weasels elsewhere.  The Camtraptions camera wasn't contributing much so I brought it home and set it to watch the weasel wall.  And straightaway there were stoats.  The videos from this camera aren't great and this is cropped as well so it's rather grainy but you can see what is going on.  The two clips in this video were only a minute apart but I am pretty sure there were two stoats - larger and smaller so male and female.  The second one is a bit farther away from the camera so it is difficult to be sure but see what you think.

Then the female went through the camera box a few metres away.  I have edited it at half speed to give a better look as she rushed through.

A few days later a stoat went through so fast that there was only a glimpse of its tail on the first frame.  However the tail is longer than the female's tail (she's on the left here) so again I think there is also a male around although I don't yet have a video of two together.

I brought a Browning camera back here to get better pictures and over the past week there have been stoat videos every day, up to 10 in a day.  Most of the activity is on the wall but also under the dead sycamore where I first saw a stoat last October.  I think there has occasionally been a larger (∴ male) stoat but it is mostly a female.  It is also encouraging that the female is defending the wall against squirrels, as in this video.  She must like it here.

Then I moved the camera a bit closer and you'll see that the stoat knows it is being watched. Notice also that it looks rather pale so although we aren't far enough north to expect a full ermine I wonder if this is a partial winter coat.  

Two years ago I did get video of male and female stoats only 10 minutes apart and that female had white legs and a white tail.  I'll see if I can spare another one or two otter cameras to keep an eye on the stoats.  I'll post more news when I have it.

Breakdancing on WeaselCam

WeaselCam has been away on tour again, back to Elemore Park in County Durham.  This was where we saw the Greater White-toothed Shrew but because it is a nature reserve evolved from a municipal golf course it has a lot of grass, therefore a lot of field voles, and therefore a lot of weasels.  The camera was there throughout December and recorded four weasel visits.  The box probably smells of mice and voles (which also visit) so the weasel is searching out of curiosity in case there might be something to eat.  As far as I can tell from the gular (under chin) spots it was always the same one and it may even be the same one as last time.  Here is what it got up to. On the first video there was background noise from earthmoving machinery and traffic.

The second time the weasel was bouncing around even more, a bit like the "death dance" of a stoat, which is said to be a way of hypnotising its prey.

Here is an excerpt from the same video, at half speed to show more clearly some of its breakdancing moves.

Each time the weasel visited it was around for two or three minutes.  You can see the advantage of my design of camera box, with a view down one of the entrance pipes, as we can see the weasel coming in and out and going back to check the entrance.

On the last visit the weasel was banging around behind the camera.  I think it must have been practising its dance moves as there is nothing round the back, just an empty space.  Perhaps I need another camera pointing backwards to see what is going on.

The camera is still in place, hoping to record more shrew activity, but I expect we'll also see more of the weasel.

PolecatCam in colour

I have been experimenting with a new trail camera.  Until now I have been using almost exclusively Browning cameras but the current HP5 is now looking a bit limited.  The new one is a Camtraptions Trail Camera and it also has several limitations (more on that another time) but what intrigued me was its ability to record colour video at night using white light LEDs. Camtraptions are mainly known for their high-end camera trap accessories used with DSLR cameras so I think this is a new(ish) development for them.

As the opportunity was there I first used the camera for a polecat video without having been able to try it out at home.  I put on a +1.25 dioptre close-focus lens which would have been right for a Browning but which in retrospect was a bit too strong here.  I took along a hollow log, as I had used for pine martens a couple of years ago, and hoped the polecat would go through it heading towards the camera rather than away from it.  It did both and also climbed over the top, mainly out of view, probably just exploring the log because it was new.  It recorded several clips, mostly on the first night, and this was the best bit.

I am intrigued that the polecat (and wood mice, domestic cats, and roe deer), showed no reaction to the bright white lights switching on as recording started.  It even came right up to the camera to sniff it.

The tree stump is an obvious landmark and the polecat is a regular visitor.  Polecats are not really territorial in that they don't defend a territory against other polecats but they are thinly spread across the landscape so they need to know who's around if they are to find a mate.  The scent-marking is a way of advertising your presence and checking on the neighbours.

We moved the camera box to a slightly different position and the polecat came to check it out again.  Despite being a big animal in a small space it was careful not to knock the camera.

There were several other visitors to the box.  Here are some of them, the last of which was rather clumsy.

Once again I am indebted  to Jane and Gareth Hughes for allowing me to put the cameras on their land.  The cameras have been redeployed for the time being but we may have another look for polecats later in the year.

End of year favourites - Otters

What a year it has been.  The best yet in seven years of following my local otters with trail cameras.  Selecting my favourite videos of the year has been very difficult.

2025 started with the mother otter and her two male cubs, then about six months old.  They grew rapidly and were soon bigger than she was.  These are my two favourite memories.

The cubs were with their mother on 2nd May and by the 4th they were gone and she was courting.  The courtship went on for weeks, much longer than I have read about in the books but seems to have gone to plan.  The three new cubs were born in July and first appeared on camera in November, at about four months of age.

They will be with their mother until late spring and at the moment they are appearing on camera several times a week.  Here are three recent favourites.

The otters have been dominating the blog recently so expect more videos in the coming weeks. Happy New Year.

End of year favourites - Birds on trail camera

Birds show up every day on my trail cameras.  I don't usually keep the videos of moorhens, ducks, geese, robins, pigeons, etc that I see every day but some of the recordings offer us a privileged view of behaviour that we wouldn't otherwise see.  Here are a few favourites from this year.

I am used to seeing sparrowhawks at home but this one appeared on my otter camera.  It's a first year bird, probably a female from its size, and whatever it was chasing it missed on this occasion.  I thought at the time that the call in the background was a buzzard but now I think it might be another sparrowhawk.

Water rails are much more often heard than seen.  They have a strange un-bird-like call, as this one is showing in front of the camera.

Water rails mostly eat invertebrates but will take larger prey, here a fish and a newt.

Carrion crows are pretty clever but this one was outsmarted by a mouse.  The story is a bit long to repeat in this post but you can find it here.

I posted a video of a heron eating water shrews a couple of days ago.  Another one (or perhaps the same one) tried to eat a frog, but lost it, and caught a toad but soon let it go.

Cetti's warblers were first recorded breeding in the UK only 50 years ago and they are now resident and breeding birds up here.  Like water rails they are mainly heard rather than seen but this one did turn up on the camera.  Unfortunately it wasn't singing.

Cetti's warblers sing all day and all night in the summer.  One was singing while a common snipe was exploring the bridge.  There is a little grebe and a bumblebee in the background at one point as well.

Finally a video I haven't posted before but something that turned up on PolecatCam in Allendale. A tawny owl catching a black spider in complete darkness.  Amazing.

There are birds every day on the cameras that don't make it to the blog.  I hope this has given a taste of what goes on while no-one is looking.