Tag: camera

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The 5th and 6 of May are the days when…

The 5th and 6 of May are the days when the Rooks fledglings leave their nest, I have never seen them fly on these dates, I have only seen them high up in the branches of the tree that their nests are in the Rookery. We have two Rookeries on the Farm and I must admit I have found them to be a nuisance and noisy. They cause other farmers, especially crop farmers real problems when they sow their seeds for their crops. The Rooks will also eat the young shoots, they can do a lot of damage.

Some farmers who have rookeries will go out on the 5th and 6th of May and shoot the fledgling out of the trees, many young Rooks are killed every year. Other Farmers will shoot earlier when they are laying their eggs and try to stop them laying by shooting at the nests.

Some years back we had a problem with the Rooks with our Ostrich eggs. If we did not collect the eggs in time, the Rooks would break into the eggs with their beaks. They were worth up to

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Some of you may have seen that we tried to…

Some of you may have seen that we tried to introduce our two riding Horses with Lady and her Foal. So that it did not become to over bearing for the Foal, we would introduce Breeze first, half an hour later we would try Arnie. It did not work, Breeze being Breeze decided she would show who was in charge, which she is, although she is the smallest of our Horses, being 14.2hh. As soon as she went in the field she started to round Lady and the Foal up, of course Lady did not want Breeze to be to near the Foal and started to run away. The trouble with Breeze is that she wont give up, and immediately it became a chase. When Breeze got to near, Lady gave the sign that she was going to kick out, to stop Breeze. Most Horses would keep their distance, not Breeze, She turned her back to Lady and threw out a couple of threatening kicks towards Lady that could have well hit the Foal. Although immediately we could see that we had to catch Breeze, they were running to hard and fast for us to be able to catch her. The Foal would not have the stamina to run for to long, it could then become very ugly between Lady and Breeze, putting the Foal in a very dangerous position.

Fortunately we got in a position to be able to get in between Lady and Breeze and managed to get a head collar on Lady. Breeze is not silly she knew that we may take Lady out of the field and she made her way to the gate. We had left a Head collar on Breeze, just in case of problems and we were able to get a lead rope on her. Back to her stable she went.

It would have been good for all of the Horses to be out together. As it is Lady and the Foal with Woody are out in the day, Breeze and Arnie of a night. We need to get the two yearlings Bliss and Misty in the field. We know that there will be a chase about with Breeze, but the yearling will be bossed about because of their age, and of course will be faster and more agile to be able to get away from Breeze. We will have to fence part of the field off and put Breeze into the area, so that she will be able to get use to the Foal. We did that last year, but had hoped this year Breeze would have been better. When Breeze gets use to the idea of the Foals she is very good with them and becomes their second mum.

I was hoping to have had a new Swallow camera going today. I found a new nest, one with two eggs. I attached the wires to the camera that were there from two years back but it did not work. The camera is an Internet camera that can pan, tilt and zoom, ideal for the area. I think that the cable must be broken, I do not have any more of the cable left. I will try to put a fixed camera up tomorrow, so at least we can see something until I can get some more of the cable.

The second Scottish Widlife Trust camera could be on tomorrow.

No Karen, we have not managed to round up any more of the sheep. I think that they will be on their way to market very soon. Sheep are just to much work.

Juliet, Woody is eighteen, not over old for a broodmare. Many go on well into their twenty’s. Age was nothing to do with her still born Foal. What ever illness she had/has was the cause.

Yes Elsie, had the first full nights sleep last night, first for nearly a couple of months.
Woody has again been very well today, I must admit I am surprised.

Val, you haven’t been reading the Diary. I did tell you a lot about the two Horses. Their names are Breeze and Arnie. Breeze is a 14.2hh Palomino with Flaxen tail and mane, she is mostly Arab, and a real Barbie Doll Horse. Pretty as a picture but scatty. Arnie is the Dark Bay 17.3hh Dutch Warm blood, gentle giant.

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Woody has been walking about in the field most of…

Woody has been walking about in the field most of the day. We keep going out to make sure she alright, when we cannot see her on camera. She has not laid sprawled out in the field at all today, or in her stable last night , the first time for a good few weeks. She has also eaten her last two feeds and finished off her hay that we put in her stable. Don’t read to much into today’s good news about her, it is just one day and her condition could well change.

I finally finished the new Badger hide, our holiday quests this week have been using it for the past three nights. It has been very successful with our quests seeing the Badgers and Foxes live, that you can see on camera. I was watching on camera and only once were they startled. Probably some of you saw it, when three of the Badgers rocketed back to their sett. They came back out again very soon after.

For the past five years, maybe longer we have had a Wren nesting within inches of of our head when we go out of our house door. The nest is the original one that the first Wren made, and is still in good condition. I have fixed a camera into the top of the nearly fully enclosed nest. Conveniently the nest had been made with a small hole in the top, just the size for the camera. We haven’t seen the Wren use the nest this year. We maybe lucky, so I have taken the chance.

We have not managed to catch the Fox cubs on camera yet. They are definitely there and make an awful racket just before dust, we can hear the noise with our farmhouse door closed. Most years they can bee seen in the vicinity of the tree house, and along that hedge running down on the left hand side to the old Oak tree, the field that Lady and the Foal are in of a day time.

The person who manages our website has not been able to get the Osprey camera on our site, he has promised that it will be on tomorrow. In the meantime you can access the web cam on http://wm9.easystream.co.uk/swt
You can see the Osprey at night as there is an infra red lamp installed. Do not save this URL in your favourites as it will change on Tuesday, the web cams will then only be able to be accessed on our site.

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The Filly saw the big wide world I reckon she…

The Filly saw the big wide world, I reckon she likes what she saw, once we had got he out of the stable. You would think that they would follow Mum, no way, they are all the same, Mum starts to leave the stable on the head collar, but you can guarantee the Foals don’t follow, Mum starts to panic because the Foal has been left behind, racing back to the stable with us in tow. Then its a case of pushing the Foal out. Suddenly there is so much to see that they walk into every thing in sight. It only lasts for a short time, the Foal gets its legs and away they go.

After Lady had munched her fill of grass she walked around the field, the Filly hugging close to her side. It did not take the Filly long to feel her feet, to get her confidence and having a little run and skip about, of course only very close to Mum. She soon crashes out, only to start again later. We knew when it was time for the Filly to come in, Lady waited at the gate to tell us.

We had to bring Breeze and Arnie in whilst Lady and the Filly were out in the field, for they probably would go on a mad one. In about a weeks time they will all be able to go out together. At the moment we will leave Breeze and Arnie out in the field of a night. Lady and the Filly of a day. It will be a good thing for Arnie as he is a bit overweight. The spring grass has a lot of sugar in it, that could well give him problems.

Both of the Blackbird fledglings, I suppose I had better call them that. I have never professed to being a Bill Oddy, just better looking. The adult Blackbirds are busy feeding them, and I have seen the fledglings fly a little.

A couple of questions on the forum. Foals do have teeth, as humans they loose their milk teeth.

Race Horses Foals are normally weaned at about five to six months old, as the Mares are normally put back in Foal within a month of foaling. We try to keep them suckling for eight months, as the unborn foal only relies on the Mother for the last three months. I think it is good for both. Very often though the Mare will stop feeding the foals, by raising their back legs to to stop the Foal from getting to the udder, then we will wean them.

Got a little extra sleep. Still wake to check the Foal, for a few nights

The Veterinary is coming to see Woody tomorrow.

Hopefully The Scottish Wildlife Trust will be running tomorrow. They will initially be using their own cameras, with the new camera I supplied being installed at the weekend. As I . have said before, we sometimes have minor problems, that may cause little delays. Please be patient.

For a couple of weeks we have been experiencing minor problems with the camera control system. The main Badger camera was affected more than the others. I changed the controller over this afternoon. You would have experienced some loss of picture and quality. The controller now being used only allow eight cameras, we have more installed. You may see the screens turn blue, this is because we are changing certain camera over manually. The usual controller has been sent for repair and should be back early next week.

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I managed to get the Swallows camera up this afternoon…

I managed to get the Swallows camera up this afternoon. I will put it on now and then instead of the Blackbird camera. Not to much as the Swallows are still building their nest. Well I hope they are, the eggs will soon fall out of that sorry affair, unless they make a better job of it. I will check the nest when they start laying their eggs and let you know how many eggs they lay, that will make it more interesting.

I had a problem with the main Badger camera last night. I really don’t know why, but for for some reason I was not able to control the camera. I switched the electricity off for fifteen minute or so, on turning it back on it seemed to be working as it should. Unfortunately camera one and the valley camera are on the same electricity supply and they went off at the same time. Last nights problem with the main Badger camera could be the start of the camera breaking down completely, and it may need changing. This camera is on a high telegraph pole. As I don’t like heights I have got to find someone to change it over for me. If I knew of any one I would change it now, rather than let it breakdown completely, and then having to find someone to do the job, especially as the Badger cubs a coming out. This camera also looks over the field where the Horses are now, and in their main field that we are turning them out on, on the 1st of May.

Yes, on the 1st of May we turn the Horses out on to their main field for the summer. Because of the lack of rain there is about half the amount of grass as in recent year. The Sheep have not helped, having some of them still grazing the field, but it would not be fair to leave the Horses any longer in the paddock that they are now in. They must be cursing me in their language with all that tasty spring grass, not a few metres away. It will also save us a lot of work.

It is a bit like a rodeo when they are first turned out onto the new grass. Breeze goes absolutely loopy, racing around the field bucking and kicking her legs out. Arnie does not go quite so mad, but he still enjoys himself. I wont let Lady and Woody out at the same time, they will want to join in with the fun. Lady in her condition and Woody being unwell may just cause more problems. I am going to turn Bliss and Misty out with the other Horses a few days later. I think that I will have to let them out on their own for a few hours, as Breeze will make them go even more mad if she is with them.

I will let you know tomorrow what time I am going to let them out, as long as the main Badger Camera is working alright you will be able to see a little of the action.

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I am putting up a Swallow nesting camera in Stable…

I am putting up a Swallow nesting camera in Stable Barn/Cottage. It should be working tomorrow. We intended to have this cottage finished by now, but the clown who did some work on the roof, has done it wrong and I am waiting to have it redone. In the mean time at least one pair of Swallows have squatted in the cottage.

They are in the process of building their nest on a live 30 amp electricity junction box. How they came to choose such a place I cannot imagine, as there are a lot more suitable places in the cottage that they could have nested, It is only a foot or so from where a pair nested last year that we had on the web cam. The wire that is either side of the junction box/nest is where the fledglings perched after leaving the nest last year.

The Pied Wagtail has nested in the cooker hood outlet pipe in one of the cottages, I had seen them in the area, although until today I had not seen them go into the hole. I have the lights I need to light up the hole. Tomorrow I will try to see if I will be able to put a camera in a position to be able to see them.

Woody is still very unwell, and still does not show any signs that she is to foal next week.

To my surprise on checking the sheep today, the four Ewes and lambs that had got out of the area that I had electric fenced at the end of the valley, had put themselves back behind the fence. Although I had tried to find them, I had not seen any sign of them for a few days. I still have not managed to catch any more of the Sheep, I will try again on Monday.

The Geese are still sitting on their eggs. Over the past few day the other pair of geese have been returning, landing in the field close to the Farm House, before flying onto the lake to a nag at the sitting tenants, they don’t wait long before flying off. I saw a pair of Moorhens with six chicks, as I was mowing the grass around the lake. Most years a couple of the chicks survive.

Elsie asked, have we any Buzzards on the Farm. We have a pair that nest every year. I did a diary entry on the 29th of March about them. Tass and Ky are doing great. They are the best of friends and don’t stop playing with each other. We will try to get them on camera, down the valley in the next couple of days.

JoAnn from New Jersey asked what signs were there when Lady is to foal. Unfortunately not a lot, but if she is looking behind herself a lot is the one sign I look for, that you are also able see. I also check her udder, and different signs at her rear end, but nothing is for sure.

Any more about the Magpies, superstition and how you react. Those you have put on the forum are interesting. Keep them coming.

Denbury Farms URL got put in the Daily Mail Magazine today, in their Big Brother Goes Wild editorial. I am a little disappointed, it was the meanest of mentions for our comprehensive wildlife site. When someone from the Magazine spoke to me two weeks or so ago, they gave me the impression that the article would have had a lot more in it about The Web Broadcasting wildlife, and about our real time web cams.

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webcams

We are really thrilled to announce that we are to…

We are really thrilled to announce that we are to host the web cams for The Scottish Wildlife Trust at their Lock of the Lowe’s centre, focusing through the summer on their nesting pair of Ospreys. The web cams that are in place at the centre now, update and have a 30 second cut off. We will be broadcasting the web cams real-time live, 24/7. This will be possible as there is a Infra Red lamp already installed, positioned on the nest.

The agreement that we will be hosting the web cams for The Scottish Wildlife Trust was only finalised this afternoon. We will be sending to them an 18x Zoom, Pan and Tilt Camera and all the ancillary equipment next week, and would hope that we will be live broadcasting very soon. I will keep you up to date on how it is progressing.

The 18x Zoom, Pan and Tilt camera will hopefully allow the centre to show other wild life, Red Squirrel, Fallow and Roe Deer and in the winter a great assortment Wildfowl. You can access The Scottish Wildlife Trusts web site at www.swt.org.uk where you can see the current web cams position on the Ospreys nest, that has three eggs that the female is brooding. You are also able to access the Osprey diary to keep you up to date with the nesting site.

We also hope very soon to be able to announce another exciting addition to our web site, that we will be hosting, again in Scotland. As well as other wildlife you should be able to see elusive Pine Martin.

We agreed last year to broadcast an all year roost of Barn Owls, that regularly nest. Unfortunately we have as of yet not been able to get together on a time to install the cameras. I will endeavour to try to sort it out next week. Some exciting new addition are happening.

I am sorry about the short diary entry for last night. Woody being unwell put me behind with my work, I was working until past 10pm. Although Woody looks well on camera through the day she is very ill and it could well be a terminal illness. We are treating her for pain, but can do very little more until after she has foaled.

Lady, oh Lady you are giving me to many disturbed nights. I reckon I will be waking every hour, every night for the rest of my life, with the waking that I am having to do, to keep an eye on you. Your belly is enormous and you waddle in like a duck, when I stable you of a night. I feed you, groom you, make your bed, a proper little gofer for you, and you keep me awake all night, not to mention your audience.

I must remember to turn the light out on the Blackbird nest tonight. When I checked the nest last night, the Blackbird was not sitting on the nest. I may be wrong, but I didn’t think that they fed their young in the night. If I am not wrong the light may have caused her to think it was daytime. I wouldn’t like to think I had made her work overtime. The camera I use on the nest has a built in IR lamp. I will look tonight to see if she is sitting.

The forum has been quiet today, have you all deserted me, or making up lost sleep, because of Lady.

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When ever I see stock in my fields laying flat…

When ever I see stock in my fields laying flat out for a long while, I look at their ears, You can guarantee that if their is an ear sticking up it is alive, if not go and see why not. Animals are always listening for danger. Up to to today it has never been wrong. Late this afternoon rushing around getting the stables and horse feed ready I glanced Woody, she was flat out, ears down and she even had a hind leg sticking up, every sign that we had a dead horse. I didn’t need to look twice, we rushed to the field. When we where by her side she still looked dead, only when I touched her did she stir. We managed to get her up and back to her stable, once there she collapsed. Woody over the last week or so has been her old self, bossy, moody and full of life. This morning I let lady go out first, Woody kicked the door in protest and dragged me out to the field. She laid down a few times, I had the camera on her, there was not any thing wrong with her.

Woody is a little better now, she has eaten a little of her feed. I am now very concerned about the Foal she is carrying. Woody is showing signs of an udder, not as large as I would expect, she is due to foal on the 2nd of May. The Veterinary is coming to see Lady tomorrow. She was due to foal on the 9th of April. She is late but I am not to concerned, she looks very well, having a good sized udder, but she does waddle and is slow when walking back to her stable of a night time. Just got to be patient and unfortunately tired.

I put up the frame of the new Badgers hide today. As I am writing today’s Diary I am watching the Badgers on screen, every now and then one of the Badgers must see the frame and they run off in panic, but it is better than I thought it may have been. Hopefully I will get it finished tomorrow.

We managed to capture four more Ewes with their lambs today. It has taken a month to catch fourteen of the twenty four we have. I am a little bit please I haven’t got a hundred.

I had hoped to have time to look for more Bird Nests today. I did not get the time. I know where to pairs of Swallows will be nesting soon, I will keep watch and as soon as they look as if they are ready to lay their eggs I will get a camera on them. I have seen the Pied Wagtails near where I thought that they were going to nest, so I might be able to find their nest.

I have been thinking about the Squirrel obstacle course. I could start it off now, but there is so much going on at the moment I would not be able to set a camera on it for as long as it should get. I have decided to leave it until the Wildlife is quieter.

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When ever I see stock in my fields laying flat…

When ever I see stock in my fields laying flat out for a long while, I look at their ears, You can guarantee that if their is an ear sticking up it is alive, if not go and see why not. Animals are always listening for danger. Up to to today it has never been wrong. Late this afternoon rushing around getting the stables and horse feed ready I glanced Woody, she was flat out, ears down and she even had a hind leg sticking up, every sign that we had a dead horse. I didn’t need to look twice, we rushed to the field. When we where by her side she still looked dead, only when I touched her did she stir. We managed to get her up and back to her stable, once there she collapsed. Woody over the last week or so has been her old self, bossy, moody and full of life. This morning I let lady go out first, Woody kicked the door in protest and dragged me out to the field. She laid down a few times, I had the camera on her, there was not any thing wrong with her.

Woody is a little better now, she has eaten a little of her feed. I am now very concerned about the Foal she is carrying. Woody is showing signs of an udder, not as large as I would expect, she is due to foal on the 2nd of May. The Veterinary is coming to see Lady tomorrow. She was due to foal on the 9th of April. She is late but I am not to concerned, she looks very well, having a good sized udder, but she does waddle and is slow when walking back to her stable of a night time. Just got to be patient and unfortunately tired.

I put up the frame of the new Badgers hide today. As I am writing today’s Diary I am watching the Badgers on screen, every now and then one of the Badgers must see the frame and they run off in panic, but it is better than I thought it may have been. Hopefully I will get it finished tomorrow.

We managed to capture four more Ewes with their lambs today. It has taken a month to catch fourteen of the twenty four we have. I am a little bit please I haven’t got a hundred.

I had hoped to have time to look for more Bird Nests today. I did not get the time. I know where to pairs of Swallows will be nesting soon, I will keep watch and as soon as they look as if they are ready to lay their eggs I will get a camera on them. I have seen the Pied Wagtails near where I thought that they were going to nest, so I might be able to find their nest.

I have been thinking about the Squirrel obstacle course. I could start it off now, but there is so much going on at the moment I would not be able to set a camera on it for as long as it should get. I have decided to leave it until the Wildlife is quieter.

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By luck I found a Blackbird nest How I had…

By luck I found a Blackbird nest, How I had not seen it before, I really don’t know. It is very close to the Dove nest. In fact if the box had been pointing the other way It would have been closer to the camera than the Dove nest. The box the nest is in, is an old fruit box from when I was given free fruit and veg for my Wild Boar, when I kept them. For some reason I had tried to throw the box over the side of Breezes stable to where I kept the boxes. When I threw it over it did not quite clear the top rail of the stable top. It was not stuck or wedged, I am amazed that when she was making her nest it did not fall over the rail, I have had to tie it to the rail to make sure that it does not drop over to the next door stable. It is a shame that I did not find the nest before the eggs were laid. I should think that the eggs only hatched yesterday.

Blackbirds do have a habit of finding the most silly places to nest. Two years ago one nested in the barn opposite the Farm House. Hopefully that is where some of the Swallows will soon nest. The barn is where I store everything that I will never want again, it tends to become a tip until I decide to have a clear out. The Blackbirds decided they were going to nest in between a large stack of old paint tins. There was nothing to entice the Bird to nest where it did, there were a lot of better alternatives. It did happen to look good on camera. I reckon we should have got one of the paint manufacturers, who tins were displayed to have given us sponsorship.

Im not best pleased with the Pied Wagtails, that I thought was going to nest in the cooker hood fan hole. After spending a few hours putting up the wiring up for the camera, I think that they may decide to nest elsewhere. The Tit nest in a beam in the cottage, is also not going to happen. The Tits are to far down in the hole to be able to get a camera in place. I suppose I could, but the Birds would never be able to get out. We will have a good look about for more nests to put on camera over the next day or two.

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve has their new camera installed. It can be seen on Cam 1 until the Cam 2 page is set up, hopefully by tomorrow. The Camera is installed on an island. Because of the distance that the camera is from the Visitor Centre, and other problems that they have with the location, the PTZ camera can only be made to work by microwave transmission, for both the signal and data. the power supply is by battery, charged by solar panels. It is a very sophisticated system for a web cam. It will concentrate on breeding sea birds over the coming months and promises to be excellent viewing. Anyone living or on holiday in the area, should give the Reserve a visit. From the Visitors Centre, visitors are able to control the cameras.