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.
