Developing WeaselCam

I have been experimenting again.  One of the limitations of the Mostela design of the trail camera box for weasels is that the two entrance holes are opposite each other and the weasel often dashes straight across in a blur.  It occurred to me that offsetting the entrances in some way might make visitors pause or look around so I built a new box.  This one is made from a very long under-bed storage box, the extra length giving more flexibility with the camera position.  The camera now looks straight down one entrance and the other is to the side, as before, with a small rock in between.  This is how it looks.

And this is a phone view of what the camera might see.

I have camouflaged the box a bit more than before so that it might look a bit more "natural" from a weasel or stoat's point of view.

It was no surprise that the first visitor to the new box was a wood mouse.  With the new view we are able to see it coming and going.  The third mouse seems to have the right idea.

Next up was a bank vole, good to see as there have been very few on the cameras in recent weeks.  The population is at its lowest at this time of year as quite a lot have been eaten by weasels, stoats, foxes, kestrels, owls, etc.

And best of all, within three days, a weasel, obviously intrigued by the new box.

This was one visit, all recorded within 40 seconds.  It is fun to see what is happening outside.

There is work to do on the camera position and angle, and perhaps a bit on the interior design, but I think it has promise.

Planning ahead for the coming summer, I have also greatly extended the weasel wall which is between the copse and the meadow.  Is is now higher than before and is 10m long.  The original had a nest box built into it and I have put in another one in the new extension.

This is made from a small Ikea storage box, a bit larger than a shoe box, with a weasel-sized entrance hole.  I have no way of knowing whether the weasels were using the original and the same will apply to this one which is now buried within the wall.  Robert Fuller, the source of inspiration for this, had lighting and live-streamed TV cameras in his but that is a bit beyond me. However, I will put up a couple of trail cameras in the summer to watch the wall like last year. This is how the new wall looks, built with lots of gaps and nooks and crannies.

And lastly a bonus video.  This camera was set up elsewhere to look for otters and recorded a frustrating near miss which was lucky all the same.   A weasel was hunting right at the edge of the frame and made a kill just out of view.  The main image is cropped and there is a more heavily cropped slow-motion replay ay the end.  You can just see the weasel roll briefly into view with the wood mouse it has just killed.