Composite photos from trail cameras

Trail cameras take serial pictures from a fixed viewpoint and lend themselves to making composites of images recorded at different times.  These are particularly useful in showing relative sizes, as in the image above which comes from a couple of years ago.

The photo below is recent and is made from fitting together three slices of the same view with subjects that didn't overlap.  It shows a comparison of the sizes of an otter, an American mink and a stoat, three distantly related species.

The next one compares the mink and the stoat on a different camera, the size difference somewhat exaggerated by the different distance from the camera.

In the examples above the joints between different photos have been removed for effect but I usually leave them to make the point that it is a composite and not a trick photo.  The next three photos from the "weasel box" in my garden compare the sizes of a female stoat (L) with a female weasel in the first two and a male weasel in the third.  They also show fairly dramatically the size difference between male and female weasels.

These also show female (L) and male (R) weasels on different visits to the box. The male is twice the weight of the female.

The last example compares male stoat (weighing 350g), female stoat (250g), male weasel (120g) and female weasel (60g).

I notice that all the animals above are mustelids, perhaps because they are frequent targets of my cameras but also because size comparisons of related species are particularly useful.  I'll see if I can come up with something similar for smaller mammals.

Making scents of the world

Animals perceive the world very differently from the way we do.  They have better vision, better hearing and a much more highly developed sense of smell.  Mustelids in particular live in a world of scent, using it to advertise their presence and to see who else is about.  The first video, from earlier this week, shows an otter sniffing almost every plank on the bridge to work out who has been there before.

Next a less welcome mustelid.   A male mink scent-marking by body-rubbing, then a female sniffing to pick up scents, and finally the female doing a bit of body rubbing of her own.

A stoat has been a regular on some of the cameras.  It was also sniffing its way around when it came across some mink scat.

Another video from earlier this week: a male weasel went through the camera box at high speed and on his return I am sure he was scent-marking in the tunnel.  He was also making a weasel sound I haven't heard before.  A couple of hours later a female weasel came sniffing through the box and picked up his scent.

Finally, to complete the local mustelid set, a couple of badger videos, although not recent.  First a badger sniffing its way around and seeming to take a particular interest in my scent on the camera.

And a mother scent-marking one of her cubs to make sure it smells like the rest of the family. The cub wasn't impressed.

Conflict on StoatCam

The stoat has been having a bit of bother with the neighbours recently.  A few weeks ago I posted a video of the stoat chasing a squirrel but sometimes it is the other way round.  A male stoat could kill an adult squirrel but a stoat of either sex is more of a threat to the squirrel's young.  Squirrels are nesting in the trees in the garden and I hope the stoat will nest in the wall so there is a very uneasy relationship at the moment.

I made a short video of some of the action on the trail cameras.  A lot is off camera and the views were a bit distant so the images are cropped with some loss of quality but you get the idea.

The stoat (I am assuming it is always the same one) shows up on the cameras regularly and I have had two very close sightings in the past week.  The first was through the window for a few seconds from about a metre away when it climbed up through a hedge.  The second about 10m from the front door was bit longer as it probably felt safer at that distance.  It seems to cope with me being around but I just hope the conflict with the squirrels doesn't put it off.  Here's brief video of the stoat with what looks like a field vole.

Weasels are still around in the garden but they are too small and too sensible to get involved with the squirrels.  Most times I see them dashing through the camera box but this one came out to play on the wall while the stoat and the squirrels weren't looking.

It's a smelly old world

We humans have a poorly developed sense of smell so it is difficult for us to appreciate how important it is for most other mammals.  Mustelids, in particular, use scent to communicate with others of their kind, marking their territories and advertising their presence and breeding condition.  With the exception of badgers, female and male mustelids lead separate lives, usually meeting only for courtship and mating.  As they have large territories, are thinly spread across the landscape and are mainly active at night, scent-marking is a vital way for them to tell who is about and who is available.

Otter cubs are already leaving their own scent marks and sniffing others by the time they first appear on the cameras at three or four months of age.  The first video, from late 2024, shows two young otter cubs exploring their world, much more interested in the scents than the sights or sounds.

Otters use spraint (otter poo), urine or anal jelly to leave scent marks, choosing prominent features such as rocks and grass tussocks.  This is a new spot I have only just discovered.  The very first night after I set up a camera an otter turned up.

The next video shows a popular sprainting spot which is very regularly visited by the dog otter and (separately) by the mother and cubs - there is fresh spraint almost every time I look.  It was interesting to see it marked by a badger as well on this occasion - a behaviour known as "musking".

Badgers' family dynamics are rather different from otters' but they use latrines to mark their territories and they scent-mark each other to reinforce the clan smell and maintain family bonds. Here's an example with a mother repeatedly making sure her cub smells like the rest of the family, using sub caudal glands under her tail - a process called "allomarking".

Polecats are notoriously smelly to our sensibilities (another name is foulmart) but it obviously works for them.  The next video shows a polecat using urine, scat and body rubbing to advertise its presence and sniffing to see who else has been around.

The smaller mustelids are the more elusive they become.  Tracking weasels and stoats is very difficult so less is known about their territorial behaviour.  Field signs are usually very few but this weasel left a message inside my camera box.  It was also scent marking by rubbing its body along the entrance pipe as it went in and out, something that happens nearly every time.

Stoats and weasels

I rarely see a stoat or a weasel in the garden but I now have three trail cameras set up to look out for them, one on my "weasel wall", one in a camera box and a third watching the base of a dead sycamore and adjacent low wall.  Since the start of the year stoat visits have been regular but fleeting, enough to show there is one around but not enough to suggest it lives here.  It doesn't go into the camera box but appears on the other two cameras.  Last week it briefly checked the base of the dead sycamore and then ran up the tree, disappearing from view - something I have seen several times before.  This time, however, it came back down after only 15 seconds carrying prey, identifiable as a vole in slow motion.  There is an old starling nest hole about 3m up the tree which is probably where the vole was, but why and how it got there, and how the stoat knew, is mystery to me.

Not to be outdone a weasel appeared on the same camera, checking on a delivery van before running towards the camera.

Most of the stoat recordings are on the wall.  Here is one doing what stoats do, although quite why is another mystery.

Although weasel visits are less common, one also showed up on the wall last week, not quite as frantic as the stoat.

My hope is that one of these will decide that the wall is a good place to make a nest and raise young.

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.

End of year favourites - Stoats and weasels

2025 has been the best year yet for my trail cameras.  The number of cameras has increased and I am learning how and where to set them up.  The "weasel box" in the garden is a permanent fixture and is the best way of monitoring who's around.

After all the weasel excitement here in 2024 this year has been a bit quieter.  The highlight was seeing a mother carrying her kits past the gate, moving from one nest to another.  I have sneaking suspicion she might have been in my weasel wall and was unsettled by a stoat that was hanging around.

I remodelled the interior of the box just over a year ago with some old terracotta land drains to make it more interesting (for us and the weasels).  This male was new to the box and having a good look round.

I tried baiting the pipes with a dead mouse in the hope of seeing the weasels regularly but it hasn't been a great success.  The first time I put the mouse in the top pipe and the weasel could smell it but couldn't find it.

Next time I put a mouse in a bottom pipe and a male did find it but it didn't return for another one so for the time being I have given up.

Stoats haven't been as regular visitors to the garden as weasels over the years but I saw a lot of one female in late summer and autumn.  The first sighting was near the gate.

Soon after this one visited the weasel box, something stoats are generally reluctant to do.  (This also gave me the opportunity of making the composite photo at the top of this post to compare the sizes of female stoat and female weasel.)

Then in October I was lucky enough to see a female stoat (perhaps the same one) watching me from the base of a dead tree not far from my front door.

That was the cue to set up a camera and the stoat stayed around for a few weeks.

In the last month or two it has all gone quiet, with only an occasional sighting of a weasel in the box but I hope for more activity next year.

Stoat and weasel in the camera box

The camera box in the garden is generally not baited but relies on the animals' curiosity to tempt them in.  It also attracts lots of mice, voles and shrews and so will smell of prey.  Weasels are usually happy to explore the box but stoats are rare visitors.  The female stoat who has been hanging around the garden for a while recently made two visits to the box.

There were also two very brief sightings of a weasel running through so I was tempted to put in a mouse from a trap in the roof, hoping the weasel might take it.  But the stoat got there first.  It was interesting that, having found it, the stoat checked the coast was clear before taking the mouse away, something that weasels do regularly.  Unfortunately the camera was in between its maximum 20s night-time recordings when the stoat came back to pick up the mouse.  The banging in the background is the sound of fireworks.

I put in another mouse and this time there was a rare night-time visit from a weasel but it didn't take the mouse, probably because it was still frozen.

Before the weasel had time to change its mind the stoat was there early the next morning and did take the mouse.  It was back six minutes later to check it hadn't missed another one.

The next bait was a bank vole and this was taken by the weasel.  Again she checked the coast was clear before running off with her prize.

I have plenty more mice in the freezer so it will be interesting to see if these two become regulars.

Meeting mustelids in the garden

I had a couple of amazing encounters in the garden in the last few days.  Only 15m from my front door I saw a pair of beady eyes watching me from the base of a dead sycamore.  The stoat ducked back in but reappeared several times without leaving the safety of the hole.  I managed a few short videos on the phone but the quality wasn't great so I set up a trail camera to keep watch.

The stoat reappeared 80 minutes later and did so repeatedly over the next hour and a half before running off.  It was very alert, very fast, and seemed very aware of the camera.

In the end I had about 10 minutes of video but these two excerpts give you a flavour.

I was fascinated to see how much time the stoat spent standing up to see better what was going on.  I am reminded that stoats were sentries when the weasels took over Toad Hall in Wind in the Willows.  This is E. H. Shepard's illustration.

A few days earlier I met a weasel.  I was about to close the gate when I saw a face at the entrance of my trail camera box, only 3m away.  The weasel saw me and ducked back into the box, only to reappear at the other entrance closer to me.  It stood watching, wondering what to do and like the stoat it stood on its hind legs to get a better view of me.  Then back in and through the box, out and across the roof back towards me.  The whole episode was repeated and it went through the box five times in a minute and a half before deciding to go off along the hedge.  All the time I hadn't moved and the weasel showed no fear.  There was no camera outside the box but this was the view from inside.  You can also hear it running across the roof.

There hasn't been much weasel activity recently so I hope the stoat sticks around and I'll have more videos to share.

WeaselCam on tour

One of my WeaselCam boxes has just spent eight weeks in Elemore Park in Sunderland.  The main aim was to record the local weasels although I was also hoping the camera would also see the local Greater White Toothed Shrew -  a hope that was realised.  In the first two weeks there were only a few recordings - of shrews and voles and all in daytime.  In the following four weeks the camera recorded 300 wood mouse videos, 150 vole videos and three weasel videos but no shrews.  The pattern was similar in the last two weeks - lot of mice and voles but this time there were 11 weasel recordings, although still no shrews.

To start with the weasel was very wary and was reluctant to come right into the box.  

Then it got a bit more confident.

In the last two weeks it was in the box nearly every day.

It seemed fascinated by something behind the camera (there was nothing there) often staying for 30s at a time.  At times it was jumping around like a stoat, unfortunately mostly out of view.  Here are the best bits edited from the 11 recordings.

I think this is probably all the same female weasel although it is difficult to be sure as some of the views were fleeting.  The likelihood is that the box was in her territory and she certainly got more used to it with time.  My only disappointment is that the shrews didn't show after the first two weeks - perhaps they were put off by the smell of weasel (or perhaps the weasel had eaten them all!).  The camera box is off elsewhere for a while but we hope to return it to Elemore Park for more weasel and shrew recordings in the near future.

More action on WeaselCam

It has been a quiet summer but now things are warming up in the trail camera box.  After the female weasel moved her kits I was hopeful of seeing her again.  She made two brief visits to the box in one day, followed by the stoat the next day, so I put a mouse in the top pipe as a lure. When the weasel came back she could obviously smell the mouse but to my frustration, and presumably hers, she couldn't find it and eventually gave up.

A couple of days later I put in another mouse, this time in one of the bottom pipes, and it was found straightaway, but by a different weasel, this one a male.  Notice how he immediately checks the coast is clear and then looks for a second mouse before taking it away.   He didn't go far because he was back 20 seconds later for another look round.

And he was back again four more times in the next 20 minutes, obviously convinced I had hidden another mouse somewhere.

The size difference between these two weasels isn't obvious at a glance because they are so active but here is a side by side view of the female (L) and male (R) searching the bottom left pipe.

With a male weasel and a stoat around in the garden I think either or both could have prompted the female weasel to move her kits to a different nest.  I don't think they can be far away and they might yet appear on the camera. 

A stoat visits WeaselCam

Two days after my last post on the weasel moving her family a stoat again appeared in the garden and this time came into the weasel box and was captured on camera.  I had wondered if the weasel might have been provoked into the move by a stoat and I think this makes it more likely.  A stoat would be a threat to a weasel.

Stoats are generally reluctant to enter camera boxes, including mine, even though mine has extra large outside entrance pipes (160mm).  This one I think is female because of its size - a male would be even larger.

Unusually the stoat went through and then came back through the box, common behaviour for a weasel but something I haven't seen with a stoat, although there have been very few stoat visits.

The stoat looks very big compared with a weasel and gave me the opportunity to have fun with making a composite photo from two frame grabs.  This is the female stoat with a female weasel. The two animals would be more similar in colour but the lighting was different on the two days. You can see why the stoat would present a danger to the weasel.

And the female stoat with a male weasel.

A female stoat is about 250g, a male weasel about 120g, and a female weasel about 60g.  A male stoat would be about 350g.

This was by far the best view so far of a stoat in the camera box.  I hope there will be more to share soon.