This is the last of my trail camera videos looking back at 2020. Another video of otters in the culvert and the first time I used two cameras simultaneously to improve the picture. The ramp is a couple of planks I put in after seeing the trauma of the mother trying to pull the pup up the sluice gate by its whiskers. Here the mother has lost track of the pup and runs back calling to it. The pup is squeaking up above and mother leads it back down the ramp and through the pipe.
As spring turned into summer and the lockdown persisted the cameras recorded more videos of the badgers in daylight. The two cubs had very different personalities. One was a troublemaker, fairly clumsy and was always larking about and wanting to play. I presume he was a he. The other, probably female, was much more sensible and tried to ignore him and concentrate on eating. This video of the two of them was recorded in mid May.
I have recorded lots of videos of otters in this culvert during the year. For most of the time it has been the best way to keep an eye on which ones are about and it was the first place I saw this year's pup. This is the dog otter showing the correct way to eat a live frog. He is helped by the bricks which I had been using as a camera support just below the sluice gate but which were washed into the pipe by a flood and which give him a foothold. This was the third frog he had eaten within a few minutes.
This is a video recorded in the garden in June when all the newly fledged great spotted woodpeckers are brought to the garden by their parents to be taught about peanuts. For a couple of days the youngsters can't get onto the feeder themselves and are fed by their parents, providing a chance for the trail camera to record them.
These fox cubs were living less than 50m from yesterday's badger cubs in April but they were much harder to catch on camera. Their den was an abandoned part of the badger sett and I could never predict where they would appear next. This was one of the few times I got it right. It was almost as though the mother was playing hide and seek with her cubs. I usually have my cameras closer to the target but this was an occasion for a wider view without a close-up lens.
My end of year review between Christmas and New Year is usually a collection of my best photos of the year. This year is a bit different and I shall choose six favourite trail camera videos from 2020, starting with these badger cubs making their first visit above ground in April. These are edited highlights but you can see the whole 10 minute episode here.
The next night he ran up the bank so quickly that the first two cameras missed him completely and the last two only got a very brief glimpse of his tail.
All the otter sounds I have recorded before were from the females or the pups but none of them sounded anything like this. Paul Chanin, in his book Otters, says "the lonely Eurasian otter is not a particularly vocal animal". He quotes Philip Wayre as describing three main types of otter call, although I think these were mainly from hand-reared or captive bred animals. The sounds were: a contact whistle (which I have heard mainly from pups); a "hah" from the mother to warn of danger (there was a similar snort from the dog on the trail cameras recently); and more complex sounds described as chittering, chuckling, snickering and twittering. Searching on line I couldn't find a description of a sound or call like the one in the videos above but I did find a commercially available video where a similar sound is described as "calling for a mate".
The dog otter has been showing up on the cameras most nights recently and the mother and pup nearly as often. I think the pup will leave its mother in the next few weeks so she will soon be ready to mate. I expect the dog otter realises this and is advertising his availability.
Most often the recordings on my trail cameras are carefully targeted but every now and then it is down to luck. These two cameras were set up near the water, fairly close to a large starling roost. The sparrowhawk triggered the first camera right at the water's edge. Unfortunately it was a bit too close so we can't see its feet and can't tell whether it was squeezing its prey to death or drowning it. It then jumped up the bank just as the camera was taking a brief break between consecutive 20s recordings and moved out of view.
All this happened 25 minutes after sunset, so it was fairly dark. Ian Newton says in his book The Sparrowhawk that juvenile birds are more likely to hunt later in the day, presumably because they are still hungry, being less efficient hunters than adult birds. As far as I can tell in this black and white video, this one could be a juvenile of either sex or an adult female. Judging by it size relative to the prey I think it is likely to be a female. When I saw on the camera's replay screen what had happened I went to look for feathers and found lots of starling feathers on the ground.
Sparrowhawks kill small birds easily but they are also known to drown larger prey, although the behaviour is not common. You can read mention of it here and here and even watch a video of it here. It is not something I have witnessed in my garden but I have seen a sparrowhawk washing its feet in the pond after eating a chaffinch.
It is interesting to see how much things have improved with the trail camera recordings of otters over the past two years. At first I was pleased even to see an otter but soon I was frustrated by the limited illumination and the poor focus inside 2m or so. The first development was to use auxiliary infrared lighting with rechargeable lithium batteries. It works but the lights aren't triggered by the otter - they just come on at dusk and the batteries only last eight hours - so they are no use if the otter doesn't turn up until after that, or the following night.
The biggest step forward was improving the close focus by using a cut-down lens from a pair of reading glasses from the pound shop. To start with I tried +1.25 dioptres which is best at about 0.75 - 3m distance. Now I use mostly +0.5 dioptres which works over about 1-6m, usually about right for an animal the size of an otter.
And the latest development is using multiple cameras simultaneously. This has the advantage that they provide each other with extra illumination and offer the opportunity of editing the videos to give a better image. I have been experimenting with the editing recently and the next video is the most satisfying sequence so far, using four cameras together. The otters are quite used to my cameras but the camera at the top of the bank was new and the dog seemed unhappy with it.
Here is another sequence of the dog otter a few days later. This time he was comfortable with, or unaware of, the camera and was scent-marking as he went down the bank. Here I haven't edited it but have strung together the clips to show how the cameras each switch on as he goes past, improving the illumination. The third camera on the left had a nearly flat battery so although it switched on its light briefly it didn't record. This otter has been out of the water for a while and you can see how fluffy and furry he looks. Also what a powerful beast he is.
And here is the same sequence but each time cut to the next camera as it starts to record.
The next video shows an intriguing sequence. The dog otter left a scent mark at the top of the bank and went down past the cameras before swimming out across the pool. One minute later the mother otter was on the bank, having appeared from behind the lowest camera. She called and then went up the bank as the pup appeared from the other direction, keeping close to the bank and looking (nervously?) across to its left, where the dog otter had gone. The pup scampered up the bank after its mother and they both sniffed where the dog had scent marked, before the pup added its own scent. I can be sure of the timings as the recordings were one minute apart on all three cameras. It is interesting that the dog and the other otters were so close together.
A couple more videos to bring you up to date. It is much better seeing the otters out of the water and even better in daylight. Here is the dog otter, again wary of the new camera at the top of the bank. The new camera didn't record but this one lower down did although it was a bit slow to react so he had already gone past. See how well the +0.5 dioptre lens works in good light. It is just a pity the camera wasn't a bit lower (it is now).
And another curious sequence. A cygnet had died in the water just in front of the cameras. The mother otter got out of the water, ignoring the swan but sniffing the auxiliary infrared light which I had inadvertently left in view of the camera (and which had a flat battery). The otter pup was more interested in the dead cygnet and towed it out of view, perhaps intending to eat it. Next morning I found the cygnet floating in the water snagged in some branches so the pup never got to taste swan after all.
The otter pup is now more or less as big as its mother so I expect it will leave soon to make its way in the world. This will make it more difficult for me to tell which animal is which when there is only one.
I am very pleased with the images from simultaneous recording from multiple cameras so this is something I shall develop. What I would really like is trigged auxiliary lighting as well which is probably possible but beyond my ability to develop.
So far animals seen on the camera(s) in the culvert have included otter, water shrew, water vole, field vole, brown rat, American mink, water rail, robin, wren, moorhen, mallard, frog (being eaten by an otter), and spider. When I arrived to check the camera this time I could see some very strange tracks inside the pipe but couldn't work out what animal had left them.
All was revealed by the trail camera.
I am amazed that the swan would go through the pipe which is 75cm in diameter. As you'll see from the video it had second thoughts the first time but did eventually pluck up the courage to go right through. I can't read the ring to see which swan it is.
Although the camera is fairly securely clamped to the end of the pipe, and is now otter-proof, I am lucky it wasn't knocked into the water by the swan. For the moment I have removed it to use it elsewhere.
This blog has been dominated by trail camera videos in the last few weeks, partly because of the second lockdown which made it difficult to get out much but also because the cameras have been busy. After disappearing for two weeks the mink turned up again on the trail cameras. Just before the recent heavy rain the water level in the culvert was low so it could walk through rather than swim.
Otter poo is known as spraint and is often left in a prominent position where other otters are likely to encounter it. Spraints and other scent marks are probably used for signalling an otter's presence in or ownership of a territory and it is thought that otters can recognise individuals from the scent. Spraints are certainly of great interest to other otters which may then add their own note to the message board.
The trail camera recorded a large solo otter, presumably the dog, sprainting at 11 o'clock in the morning, a fairly unusual daytime recording. The following night the mother and pup came out of the water at the same place and you can see the pup's interest in the scent at precisely the same spot.
