Tag: camera

Categories
webcams

I shouldn t think that it will be to long…

I shouldn’t think that it will be to long for the Swallow chicks to have fledged. The nest looks far to small for the three of them now. I think that the parents are thinking the same, as I have just seen an adult bring in some hay or straw, surly not to make the nest larger, or do they? Touch wood, at least this nest has survived. The fledglings normally return to the nest of an evening, for up to a week. Although the fledgling from one nest last year return for a bit longer. Unfortunately the place that the nest has been built, doesn’t allow a very wide angle camera view. It would have been good to have seen them returning to the nest, and perching on the wires that the nest has been built around.

The first Swallows nest that I found that was built on a electric junction box, has got 5 warm eggs in it. I should thing two of those wont hatch as they were probably left by the previous occupants. When the fledglings stop returning to the current nest, I will be able to move that camera, to show this nest. I have also found another Swallows nest in one of the barns. I put a camera up and I showed it this afternoon. I don’t think that the eggs have hatched yet. I will be able to move the camera to show a Dove nest that is in the same barn. As much as I have tried, I have been unable to find any nests, of other types of Birds.

I am not one who get to excited about global warming. Although I do believe there is a need for us all to be environmentally friendly. Recycling is necessary, as much to protect the world resources and to stop the lose of the rain forests of South America and Asia, for the sake of the creature that inhabit them. Although having rotting food in plastic tubs for two weeks, seems to me a bit of a contradiction. Surly it would be better to be rotting underground, that letting off harmful gases into the ozone layer, every time you open the tubs, to put more rotting food into them. Anyway a long way round to ask, if like here are your Blackberry bushes flowering. I have never seen so many flowers and never at this time of the year. I have never know Blackberries to be any earlier that the middle of August. I cannot imagine that they will fruit twice. A very important part of Birds diet will be missing, as they go into the Autumn.

Last night I saw fourteen Badgers on camera two. I maybe wrong, but I thought that there are a couple more smaller cubs, that were not out with the fourteen last night.

By the end of this month the Government are expected to give a decision on if there is to be two experimental areas for a Badger Cull. And it is an experiment to see if the areas show a decline in Bovine TB after a Cull. There is no evidence that Badgers are the cause of TB in Cattle. Recent evidence and the testing of TB in Cattle before they are allowed to leave a farm, only if free of TB, shows that the movement of Cattle to be the cause of Bovine TB, and that the cattle droppings spread the disease to Badgers. If the Government allows a Cull, it is understood that licences will be given to individuals who apply for the licences to shoot the Badgers. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we will be entitled to know who is licenced. The National Farmers Union, are the main instigators of pushing the Government for a Cull. They have recently had a national advertising campaign to publicise their insurance. Those wildlife enthusiasts who love wildlife and the Badgers, who are insured with the NFU, may consider alternative insurers.

Categories
webcams

Sorry tonight is going to be a short Dairy as…

Sorry, tonight is going to be a short Dairy, as I did not finish until late, putting up a new IR lamp where the Badgers and their Cubs have been playing of a night. Although I had put another lamp pointing into the area last night, it was a little to far away to give a good picture. Hopefully the one I have put up today will be as good as that pointing to the feeding area.

I also cleared an area two days ago, so that you are able to see one of the entrances to the sett, that can be viewed on camera one. At the moment there are cables in view. I am running a new cable to show different views of the Sett and the entrance on main Badger camera. If the piece of equipment that I have got works, it should be possible to use one cable for two extra cameras. I have been assured by the manufacturer that it will work. They will know all about it if it doesn’t. I am altering it about a bit, as although there are a lot of Badgers, other than when the Cubs are playing, all that can be seen is the Badgers eating the feed I put down. And they are eating that very quickly. Knowing how the Sett and the entrances are positioned, I should be able to show the Sett in a different light. The camera that are now in place will remain to be the main cameras.

A number of you have asked how many Badgers are there. Some of you have said thirteen, one maybe Fourteen. Tonight I counted thirteen on camera two, but I don’t think that I saw any of the small Cubs in that total, Although I am not sure. When I first put a camera up under three year ago there were three Badgers in the Setts. In two years it has gone from five, to how ever many there are now, depending on how many of the Sows gave birth.

I hope any of you who went into the NASA web cams, that I put the URL on the forum, have enjoyed them. I have only managed a quick glance on this mission. Very often you are able to see inside the space craft and the Astronauts working outside. More often than not with sound.

Over the next few days for very short periods in the day, just now and then, you may see the same pictures on both cameras one and two. That is because I will need to turn the electricity off to wire in the new cameras to get them working.

Categories
webcams

We have had two Birds on the feeder today that…

We have had two Birds on the feeder today, that dont usually use it. One was a Green Woodpecker who we see and hear near to the farm house dailey. Unlike the Great Spotted Woodpecker that visits the Bird feeders all day long, they normally feed off of the ground, eating ants and other insects, that can be found on the ground.

The other Bird we saw today was a Jay, that are closly related to the Magpie. At this time of year, they will raid other Birds nests to eat the nestlings and eggs. Both are hunted by Game Keepers, who look after the Pheasant young, for game shooting.

We have not heard the Cuckoo or seen or heard any Tawney Owls this year. The Tawney Owls has never until now, not nested on the farm. Although they have never used them, we have three Tawney Owl nest boxes in the Woods down the Valley. The camera regulary use to pick there eyes up with the IR lamps, and they were seen last year, swooping down on a Rat or Vole on the main Badger camera. But not this year.

The wiring is now complete to get another Swallows nest on camera. I only have to screw the camera in place in the morning, and it will be up and running. The next job with the cameras, is to run the wire to put at least one camera in place, that will concentrate on the Badger sett entrance. I hope to start that tomorrow, after I finish the farm work.

Lady was mated with the Stallion yesterday, and should be back home on the farm by the end of the week.

Categories
webcams

Although it has been very overcast it has been quite…

Although it has been very overcast, it has been quite warm, so warm that we have been able to sit out side to have have our tea and coffee through the day. On one occasion when we got up to go back into the house, a Jenny Wren with at least four Chick flew out of the nest that is by the farm house door. You may remember I put a camera looking into the nest, hoping that we would get the nesting on camera. I cant bOncee 100% sure that the Wrens did not nest there, but I did not notice that they did, and I am sure that I would have. Only last week I told you that I thought that something had pull the inside of the nest apart. When we saw the Wrens and their chick a day or so ago in the garden, we thought that they had come from the barn that we are converting. It could well be that the Wrens that come out of the nest next to the door are the same one that nested in the barn. I know that Swallows Chicks return to their nest of a night for a week or more, after they have fledged, I have never noticed that Wrens do. I am sure I would have noticed if they did, as they are so close to us when we leave and return indoors, and would they go into an old nest. Do any of you know?

I know that I am tempting fate, but I am amazed that the Swallow Chick is still about. I had thought that I would be moving the camera onto another nest this morning. I have managed to find another three Swallows nest that we can put on camera. One is on the first floor of the barn, above the nest we are now showing. Another two nests are in the barn we are converting, in another room from the one that had eggs in, that now looks abandoned. For some reason the cable that we were using was not connecting, and I had to put in a new cable today. I would have put it on to show you today. There are some very young chicks in the nest. Unfortunately I have mislaid the plugs to put onto the wire. As I normally do, I put them in a safe place that I could put my hands on, if I needed them. To safe that I cant find them. I will buy more tomorrow.

I should think that a lot of you have seen the crafty Fox, when the Badgers are feeding. I think that the Fox either builds its self up with frustration or bravery when it sees the other Foxes and Badgers feeding, for it without warning, charges into where the Badgers are feeding, the Badgers race back to the sett, of course fearing the worse. Normally they realise within seconds what has happened, and one of the Badgers will race out of the sett to chase the Fox off. I wouldn’t want to be the Fox if they work out what it is doing.

As Karen said on the forum today, the Rat that she saw on the feeder would have taken a saddle. The Rats have started to take the poison around the lake. From tomorrow it should start taking affect, and we will need to make sure that there a none lying around for Buzzard, Owls and other Birds of Prey to feed on. If a Fox or Badger ate one of them, that had been poisoned, it would be very unlikely that they would be affected by the poison. But there would be a good chance that it would kill any of the Birds of Prey.

I am trying something different for the Rats that you see on cam one. You may have noticed that the camera shows two Bird feeder locations and the lower Badger feeding area. What I have done is to put a large container under the feeders that are in the tree. I have made it with a lip around the edge of the container. I put food on the edge of the container, hoping for the Rats will go into it. If they do they will not be able to get out. What I will do with them then I haven’t thought about yet. Why I am trying this way is so that there is little chance of other wildlife eating poisoned Rats. Often if we have mistakenly left the lid off of a feed bin in the barn, we have found Rats in them in the morning, if there is a pile of bags by the side of the bin, they will get into the bin by climbing on the bags, once in they cant get out. When Jade was younger she would jump into the bin and kill them. She is to slow now to do it.

Categories
webcams

The Lock of the Lowe s Osprey Diary reported that…

The Lock of the Lowe’s Osprey Diary reported that the last born chick had died last night. For a few days, a number of those using our Forum, could see that it was struggling to get the food that it needed. The Manager of the Centre told me that nearly every year, all the chicks have fledged. Yesterday was a very wet and cold day at the Lock, the female had a choice of feeding the chick or letting it get cold and wet. What ever she chose the Chick was likely to die.

When I checked on the Locks camera two this morning, there was a view of the Lock. I thought that the new cameras had been installed. The camera that was looking at at the tree, that the Osprey nest is in, had been moved to show the lock. The camera has quite a wide angle, so you can see how close the Lock is to the centres building. The camera when showing the Lock, is showing the place where the Osprey has been seen to fish. When the new PTZ camera does get working there should be some spectacular viewing.

One of the baby Swallows was not in the nest when I turned the camera on this morning. They seemed very restless last night. It seems that the nest was to small to hold the five chicks, and one must have fell out in the night. I did spend some time looking around the barn to find it. The other nest I have a camera looking at, is a bit of a mystery. When I found that the nest was being used, I thought that I had counted two eggs. On checking it again today, there were two eggs. I have seen the Swallows visiting the nest from time to time, and even one sitting on the nest, but for not a long, as maybe they should. Alex’s Chloe, reckons that the chicks look funny. They remind me of the American Boxing Promoter Don King. Any other people that they or any of the other animals remind you of? Be careful I wont put up any thing to derogatory.

Quite a number of Bats were flying around the lake last night. When I put the new IR lamp up, I had not expected to see such a display of Bats, as I did last night. You can see them flying around the fields on the valley camera, but not to the extent, and as close as last night on the lake. We have Bats in our loft and in the barns that have not been converted, although when I look for them in our loft, I can never find them. We know we have them, as the fly out from different places of the roof space. When it gets dark, if we look into the roof space with a torch, there are always Bats flying about.

The Telescope is nearly ready to start again, I didn’t try to finish getting it completely ready, as the forecast was against clear skies tonight. Wrong again Mr.Met Man. To be able to set the Telescope up, I need a align it to two stars, when that is done it will follow what ever it is being tracked, more accurately. There is a piece of equipment called a SkyScout. I need one. It is very clever. All that you need to do is to point it to a Star and it tells you the name of that Star. The stockist in the UK, have not had them delivered as yet. They are manufactured in the USA. There suppliers are not allowed by the manufacturer to send them outside of the Country, or they will lose their franchise. However they are able to be paid for outside the USA, as long as they are posted to a USA address. They can then be sent to the UK. Is there anyone in the USA able to help. I have found a supplier who will take payment with my credit card and I will of course send the postage. If so please email me at info@denburyfarm.co.uk.

What a lovely surprise we had in the post today, addressed to Mr & Mrs. Farmer. A very pretty Thank you Card. I hope you don’t mind me mentioning your name, but it was very kind of you Alex. The card was what you would call a pop-up card, depicting a Blue Tits nest with chicks and a Blue Tit with springy wing flying to the nest. Very appropriate. And again thank you.

Categories
webcams

As I thought it may the Buzzard returned this evening…

As I thought it may, the Buzzard returned this evening, landing on the Bird Feeders ready to swoop on an unsuspecting Rabbit. The way that it flew down shortly after landing, it could well have caught one. That particular feeder is a good vantage point to face the camera. You can regularly see Rabbit and Pheasants in the background. For the past couple of days a Fox has been turning up in the morning, eating the sunflower hearts, that I scatter around the path to encourage the Pheasants, so that they are able to be seen on the camera.

For the past two or three days, the Fish in the lake has been spawning. I managed to catch a few of them on camera this morning. It seemed a bit frenzied, with what seemed like quite a lot of males chasing a female, trying to fertilize her eggs. When I walked around the Lake a little later, there were a lot of Fish in the reeds by the bank of the lake, spawning in the shallow water. It is when spawning in shallow water that the fish are vulnerable to the Herons. The Heron will not be able to eat the large Fish, but will pierce the Fish, that causes injuries and can kill the fish.. Needless to say that Herons are not my favorite bird.

I forgot to mention, that whilst we were at The Somerset Wildlife Trusts, Fyne Court site we heard our first Cuckoo. We have not heard any on the farm this year, I should think that by now if there had been any, we would have heard them by now. We also have not heard or seen any Tawney Owls for a while. We have two Tawney Owl nest boxes down the valley. You may have wondered if you have watched the valley camera, why I sometimes scan the trees on the left side. Very often last year I would catch the Owls eyes in the infra red lights. A number of those watching the Badger Camera last year, also saw a Tawney Owl swoop down to catch a Rat or Vole. I am sure if any of you had seen it recently, you would have posted it on the forum.

I managed to get the Telescope into the Observatory earlier in the week, today I have started to put the bits and pieces on that make it turn automatically. There is also the smaller Telescope and Solar Telescope to fit. The Moon is about at the moment, if I get the Telescope ready I will show it on camera. With the weather forecast that I heard tonight, it may not be until next week.

I managed to speak to a person who manages the wildlife, for one of the organisations that we are hoping to host their web cams, on the WBC site. We are going to discuss it further tomorrow. All I can say at the moment is that it looks promising. I also spoke to the other site last week. We are going to speak further in a couple of weeks time. They are interested, but they have a couple of issues that need to be discussed internally

Categories
webcams

Last night we were sitting in the lounge For over…

Last night we were sitting in the lounge. For over half an hour there was a constant buzzing Bee noise, some where in the room was a Bee, the noise wasn’t moving, so it should have been easy to find, we spent most of the half hour looking for it, it was just no where to be found. We would just have to suffer the buzzing, but it was aggravating. Ky was on the other side of the table, that was in front of the sofa we were sitting on, she was pawing at something on the floor in front of her, I realised that was where the buzzing was coming from. On looking at what she was pawing, I soon realised that it was not a Bee, but a Hornet.

Personally I don’t get to excited about Wasp, Bees or Hornets. I reckon that if you leave them alone they are not liable to hurt you. On saying that, I have been stung quite a number of times. I can understand those who do dislike them, with my fear of Rats. Although partly what frightens me of Rats, is the disease they carry and spread. Ky was fortunate not to have been stung by the Hornet, although when I got it into a glass, to put it outside, it was a bit dopey. It is the first one that I have seen this year, others have seen them over the past week or so. At night the lights attract them to the windows and they tend to bang quite hard into them. Normally when this happens they are nesting in a recess or in the roof of the farm house. I would prefer to leave them alone and try to get their comings and goings from the nest on camera. Sadly for them I am not the only one who lives in the house.

I don’t remember Hornets being about this early in the year, more like July time, I seem to remember. I could be wrong, but I have seen Bumble Bees around. I was meant to try to find where they are nesting. The best places I find to start looking is at corners and roof areas of the house, that are in front of a clear sky. Black dots are all you see of them against a clear sky, but you can then follow them to their nesting site. I didn’t look to hard today, but if it is a clear day tomorrow I may try. When I do find it, I will try to convince others to let me try to watch the nesting with a camera. It may not be that easy.

When we kept Cattle, a nest of Bees swarmed in the field that we show the Horses in. The Cattle were in the field at the time. At the farthest end of the field from the farm house, I saw a small black area that looked like a cloud, about six to eight foot above the ground, moving towards the Cattle, who were in the field. When they got close to the Cattle, the Cattle stampeded towards the gate. I reckon that the Cattle must have turned away from the gate. I don’t know for sure, as I thought it wise to get in doors away from the swarm.

Three years ago whilst eating a cake, I got stung on my tongue by a Wasp, that was inside the cake. My tongue quickly started to swell. I didn’t hang about, I was driven to the Hospital, that is a fair way from the farm. I don’t know what would have happened if had waited for an ambulance, as someone suggested, as my whole mouth and throat were swelling up. I made the person driving break the law so many times, that their driving licences would have been taken away for ever. I made them overtake on bends and go past a speed camera, at twice the speed, and worse.

By the time that I got to the Hospital I was really worrying about the problem that I was having to breath. I didn’t book into casualty, I went straight to a Doctor who was attending a patient. He understood why and attended to me straight away, I was given some sort of jab and the swelling quickly went down. Within twenty minutes I discharged myself. The Doctor did comment, that this unusual emergency made a nice change from his normal emergencies. I don’t reckon that he would have liked to been on my end of it.

Woody seems to have been a lot better over the past few days. She hasn’t been laying down as much and is a lot livelier.

Categories
webcams

The Geese eggs hatched today I really didn t know…

The Geese eggs hatched today, I really didn’t know until I scanned around the lake this afternoon. I counted four Goslings. I thought that there was about ten days to go before the eggs were due to hatch. I wanted to get something up to frighten the Carrion Crows and Rooks from taking them. As soon as I saw the Goslings I went over to our farm suppliers, a round journey of thirty miles, to see what bird scarers they had. I have a banging bird scarer, but that is liable to scare other wildlife and the Horses.

I managed get two scarers with bright coloured eyes that are meant to turn in the wind. They didn’t turn very well, as they were poorly made. I should think that I will be taking them back to the suppliers. I have put them around the lake for now, I am sure that it is not going to stop the Goslings from being taken by their predators. Last year they were all gone in the first day. There has been a workman repairing our driveway very near the Geese, I should think that is why none have been taken today. It does sadden me when I see them disappearing.

Unbeknown to me, whilst I was collecting the scarers, Bliss and Misty were let out into the main Horse field. I had wanted to let you see them turned out on camera. They did have a mad ten minutes running around , kicking and bucking. Bliss ran back to the gate and her brakes didn’t work to well, It didn’t help as it had just rained cats and dogs, and she skidded into the gate. fortunately she did not hurt herself. The Fillies would not have been let out, if the forecast had said it was to rain as it has this afternoon. You would reckon with all the satellites and equipment these meteorologists have, they would manage to forecast it right more often than they do. We will let Lady and the Foal out with them in the morning and Breeze and Arnie tomorrow afternoon. There will be a bit of running about then. I will let them out at about 4.pm if you want to see them.

I am pleased some of you managed to see the Deer last night on camera 1. They were a small herd of Red Deer. If you noticed they were a lot bigger than the Roe Deer that we usually see. One of the best ways to recognise the Red Deer is that they are mostly quite deep in the barrel. If you saw the last one go out of sight it was on its way to towards the Farmhouse. I will see if they are about tonight, but the Red Deer are not as territorial as the Roe Deer.

Hopefully you have seen the Swallow camera. I did not manage to count how many eggs were in the nest, If I remember I will count them tomorrow. It was good to see the two Red Squirrels in the nest box at the SWT centre. I just wonder if it is going to happen. They have received the new miniature colour camera for the nest box, that I sent them. If Red Squirrels keep returning you should soon see them in colour.

Going by Barry’s entry on the forum today, Rye Harbour is having a bit of trouble with the bigger Gulls, that are taking the Black Headed Gull and Common Terns eggs. Last year they had Gulls nesting on the web cams, it was very good with a not a particularly good camera. This year it should be pretty spectacular with the camera in the position it is and the excellent pictures that they are producing.

Categories
webcams

There were two good sightings on the cameras in the…

There were two good sightings on the cameras in the past twenty four hours, with a bit of luck some of you saw them.

At about 9.pm last night I turned the valley camera on and there was a Muntjac Deer. I have never seen one on the camera at night before. I have only ever seen them in the day, and more than not with a Fawn. I always seem to startle them, the Hind going one way and the Fawn the other. I always feel guilty and worry that they may lose each other. Of course the next time I see them they are together again. The Muntjac is not a native breed, although I have not looked it up, I was told that they originated from China, and imported by a wealthy land owner, some of them escaped and colonised in this country.

The other sighting was on the normally SWT Blue Tit nest camera page. The centre Manager told me that when they looked at the nest box, that was put up for the Woodpeckers, there was a Red Squirrel in the box, he immediately put it on so that we could all see it. Unfortunately it was a black and white camera. It was very still when I saw it, looking like a ball of fluff, I thought at first that it was some sort of Mouse, until it moved. It slept in the box for a good while before moving onto the feeder, by the side of the nest box. The Red Squirrel did not return to the box, but there is a chance that it may return and breed. I have sent a colour camera to the SWT centre, to install in the box. If it does return we will be able to see it in colour. The Red Squirrel by all accounts breeds in the latter part of May. It could well be that it is looking for a nesting site.

When the new cameras are installed at the Lock of the Lowe’s centre there will be other wildlife to see. I understand that it could be this weekend.

I managed to install the Swallow camera today, it tuned out to take longer that I thought it would, because of the type of camera it is, it needs a piece of equipment to make it work on my system. This camera is controlled from one of my computers, on the computer it is the correct way up, on your computers the wrong way. It should have been installed in only one position and I forgot. I hope not to many of you saw the picture upside down. I will have to change it around first thing in the morning, then you will be able to see the nest. The Swallow is sitting on the eggs, but I will try to count how many there are.

I lost all track of time whilst installing the Swallow camera, by the time I had finished I realised that I had not phoned the Veterinary about Woody. She has been up on her legs all day and looks a lot better than she did yesterday and the day before. I will contact them tomorrow.

Categories
webcams

I have for a while thought that the Badger who…

I have for a while thought that the Badger who comes out to feed, even before I am over the gate, waits near the path I use to get to the Badger feeding place. After tonight I know it does. I try to go a little later every night to feed the Badger, so that I am not feeding them when it is to light. Tonight I was a little later than normal. As I got to the place where I turn off of the path, the Badger was there waiting for me. It made me stop in my path, the Badger looked at me, took little notice and ambled back to the sett, as if it was telling me I was late, and about time to.

I spoke to soon about the Rooks last night. They came down tonight, over the coming days more will descend to steal a little of the Badger feed with the Magpies. The Rooks fill their mouths with as much as five pieces of bread, to take back to the Rookery to feed their young..

I have spent a good deal of the day trying to find nests to put cameras into. There are so many Birds about on the farm you would think that they would not be difficult to find. Any that I have found are in places that it is impossible to site a camera. I have two Swallow nest that I can use, but I wont have the cable to fix them up, until Wednesday. I managed to make the equipment for the Pied Wagtails nest, but I am having second thought about putting in the hole, after I disturbed the Bird when I measured the entrance hole yesterday. I would not like for the Birds to abandon the nest because of what I am doing.

I am sorry that the second Scottish Wildlife Trust camera is still not working. The centres manager who is responsible for the cameras is not back to work until tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. Until the camera I supplied are installed they will use another of their cameras. I believe that they have a Blue Tits nest with nine eggs, that they may use. I understand that the Pine Martin and the Red Squirrels will be shown on the camera we have supplied, when they are up and running.

When we were setting up the Osprey camera page for the site, I had a private view of the nest, one of the Osprey, I assume it was the male, returned to the nest with a large Salmon to feed the female.

I am not sure what the Fox was carrying this afternoon on camera. It seemed to have a long fluffy tail. The normal camera controller is away for repair, the one I am using is a bit jerky.

A number of you have been asking again about Woody’s condition. She has not been right again today. I will have to speak to the Veterinary again tomorrow. I did say before, that her illness could well be terminal. If it is, and we are not sure, I can assure you. Then as long as we can stop her experiencing pain, we will not take any drastic action. I will keep you updated on her condition.