Tag: cameras

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webcams

The Lock of the Lowe s fitted a new camera…

The Lock of the Lowe’s fitted a new camera today. A close up of where the Red Squirrel and Pine Martens can be seen. I had hoped that they may have got the Pan, Tilt and Zoom camera up and working, so that we could have seen the Osprey fledglings learning to catch fish from the Lock. With a bit of luck they may get it installed before the Ospreys migrate in a few weeks time.

I know why the Kingfisher perches on the branch now. Both last night and tonight I have seen some very large fish swimming nearby it. Going by the size of the branch the fish must be at least a foot and a half long, probably weighing more than 10lb. Mind you a fish that size would be able to swallow the Kingfisher. There were a lot of fish in that area, that a Kingfisher would make a meal of.

I didn’t post it on the forum, but some one mentioned that they prefer the cameras at Denbury and Lock of the Lowe’s, because that some of the other locations were distant and were not on that good of wildlife. We supply all of the cameras and we know what work does go into installing and keeping them going. Fixed cameras cant be altered at will, and would have been installed for a specific reason. One of the Rye Harbour cameras has a minor problem and cant be put right until the Gulls have finished nesting, or the Gulls may abandon the young. Alteration do take place from time to time to keep you all interested.

Karen mentioned that Springwatch were always looking for new locations. Our webcams have been offered to the BBC and will always be available to them. This year they put on very good web cams, but nothing that they could not have got from using our web cams, which would have saved them many thousands of pounds. In fact I reckon going by the content, that they got their ideas from us. To make matters worse we had some outside contractor, who was working for the BBC on the Springwatch production, emailing me telling that I was taking their ideas and that I was claiming to be the provider of the BBC webcams. He also assured me that the BBC would make me stop. I couldn’t even be bothered to answer his email. We were one of the first doing webcams and have done a few very firsts in the bargain.

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webcams

I am surprised that the Swallow fledglings have not returned…

I am surprised that the Swallow fledglings have not returned to the nest this evening, it could be that it is a little early. it will be unusual for them not to return, as all of the other nest that I have shown, they have return for a week or more. The Adults on the other nest you can see are still incubating the eggs. I don’t believe that it will be too long until the eggs hatch. Once they are I will put a light in the barn of a daytime, so that you can see it better. I don’t want to put the light in to soon in case it disturbs the Birds. Also when the eggs have hatched, I will be able to move the camera to another position in the barn, to where a Dove is nesting. Putting the camera up to watch the new nest was quite difficult. As you may have noticed it is in the apex of the barn roof, bit of an awkward place and very high, not the sort of place that i really want to have to install a camera. As soon as I know for certain that the other nest is not being used, I will change the camera from there, to another nest in that barn.

Karen asked how I got started in doing the web cams. Initially it was to promote our holiday cottages. As it turned out it cost me a lot more money than I had expected it to be, probably any money we made on letting the cottages, was spent on the web cams. When we started about four years ago there where very web cams to be seen. None for wildlife, other than the odd Bird Table and they were updating, some as long as every half an hour. With web cam technology in its infancy, there was very little advice to be found, and it really was a case of hit and miss. The easy option was to have had updating images, but I really cant watch them. If I was to do web cams I wanted them to be 24/7 real-time live. Unless I could have achieve that I would not do them. Eventually I did get it up and running and realised that as we were doing as well as we were, I should try to start the WBC site. It does cost a substantial amount of money to purchase the equipment for the broadcasting. The pan, tilt and zoom cameras, with the controllers and ancillary items cost in the region of

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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.

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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.

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webcams

I saw the Badger cub for the first time last…

I saw the Badger cub for the first time last night. It does look as if the Sow has only got one cub, more than likely she had two and one has died. I could be wrong and that there is another one who has not come out of the sett as yet. I hope so as they do play well together. Last night the cub did look lost, not knowing what to do next. It could also be that there is another Sow in the sett with cubs, and that the cubs are not yet mature enough to show themselves. The coulds are probably wishful thinking, all though the doubling of the sett last year was also surprising.

Last year two sows of the sett had cubs, one having twins and the other triplets, that is unusual, normally only one sow of the sett breeds each year. Last year the sett doubled in size. Up to about two weeks ago all ten were still about.

Since I took a rattly bunch of keys in my pocket to stop the Badgers becoming to humanised, by rattling the keys when I fed them, they have not been waiting so close to me at feeding times. It hasn’t frightened them, but it has made them wary, which was my objective. One Badger does come out as I am leaving the field. It pops its head out of the sett when it hears me and gingerly edges it self to the edge of the field, very rarely coming any closer.

The Swallows have got on well with their nest building, they have been at it all day, it still doesn’t look that good or safe. The Blackbirds chicks are in out of their nest all day long, they would not be able to do that if the nest was not in the fruit tray.

We have a contractor spraying to get rid of the dots and nettles in the hay fields. The weeds tend to spoil the hay, and the horses are not keen on hay when there is weeds in it. We always leave a lot of weeds around the farm for the wildlife, especially the nettles, where the butterflies often lay their eggs.

We are going to let Breeze and Arnie out into their summer gazing field tomorrow morning between 9 and 9.30 am. I am sure that they will do as I said they would in yesterdays diary. Both cameras Denbury Farm 1 and 2 overlook the field and I will show the horses on both cameras for half an hour or so.

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webcams

For about three hours to day we have been setting…

For about three hours to day, we have been setting a camera up to watch a pair of Pied Wagtail nesting. They are nesting in an extractor fan outlet hole, in one of the holiday cottages. After a few problems we managed to get it going, but on putting the camera and light into the hole, we found that the light did not have the power to light up the recess, that the nest is in. I will have to look at the alternatives, and try to get it up and running tomorrow.

The Swallows are starting to arrive on the farm, to start their nesting. I must admit they are our favorites for the nesting cameras, they really are cute. They have in recent years lost a lot of their old nesting sites on the farm, as we have converted two barns. I am putting up a few shelves in another of our barns, in the hope that it will encourage them to nest in that barn. I can then hopefully put a camera up to watch them there. If I get the time, and I can find four different types of Birds nesting, I will put a camera up on each nest. I have a piece of equipment, that will allow me to rotate the four cameras at intervals I choose, on the four nests.

We are not getting the rain that we need to get the grass growing as it should be. The ground is very hard and we need a fair bit of rain soon. Most years the Horses are able to graze a seven acre field, for all of the summer and part of the autumn, up to November, December time. That’s allowing them to start to graze the field, on about the 1st of May. What with the sheep still on the fields grazing and the lack of rain, the grass may not last as long as usual. I know most of you would rather have the good weather we are now getting, but long dry spells do cause problems in farming, that in turn causes price increases in the food you purchase. Dont worry how daft you may look, go outside and try a little rain dance.

We have the remains of a small Cider Orchard on the farm. For the first time since we have lived here, every tree blossemed and we had more fruit than ever. There were more Blackberries and other hedge fruits than usual, and the Wallnuts were large. And that was after the exceptional hot and dry summer. We thought that we were in for a hard winter, because of the large ammount of fruit. On the conterary, the Autume and Winter were the mildest that I can remeber. I dont know that I am convinced on Global Warming, but if it is happening, Farmers will need to change there ways of farming.

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webcams

We checked Lady s foaling dates and they are correct…

We checked Lady’s foaling dates, and they are correct, so she is about three weeks overdue. I should think that it may be to do with Woody being unwell. Lady has always been very dependant on Woody. Woody’s illness has caused her to stress out a bit.

When ever Woody crashes out in the paddock, I take her back to her stable. After I had taken Woody in, Lady would stand by the gate and continually call out for her. Over the past weeks, with Woody going into to her stable early, Lady is getting use to Woody not being about so much, and has called far less. Hopefully this will be the start of her not depending on Woody, as much as she does.

We did a bit better with the Sheep movement today. We managed to pen two Ram Lambs and the Flock or Stud Ram. We made sure that we had a cover on the top of the trailer, so they were not able to jump out. About an hour later, Dolly, Minty, Cranberry and an other Ewe followed the bag of feed, into the pen. We also managed to pen the Lambs in with them. Unfortunately I had not made it as secure as I should, and the lambs managed to find a way out. Dolly’s Lambs waited patiently outside for her. Over two hours or so, the other Lambs came to the pen to feed off of their mothers. I managed to catch all the Lambs and put them into the trailer. Dolly jumped into the trailer to be with her Lambs. I managed to get the other three Ewes into the trailer, and I took four Ewes and five Lambs to the field that I had prepared for them. There are now nine Sheep and five Lambs captured. Still a long way to go, but we will get there.

These two pairs of Geese wont give up. I was just going to write that a pair had settled, as there were only one pair on the lake today, and they were on the island. When I checked on camera this evening, the other pair were back and still fighting. Surly one pair must go and find another nesting site.

After seeing the posting about the Butterfly Farms cameras, I phoned them, The Ant camera should be on now, on the Butterfly Farm camera two. They were going to try to put the new cameras in place this afternoon. If they manage to get them up, they will get an electrician, to get them on line. This will not take to long. The cameras are off very often. I know that is because of circumstances beyond their control. As soon as they realise that the cameras are off, they will quickly restart them.

The Astro camera are run by myself. What I am trying to do with it, has never been attempted in the format that I am trying. The Telescope has had to be returned to the suppliers, because of a minor problem. Whilst at the suppliers the Telescope will be setup and tested. I am new to Astronomy, and although it is a very sophisticated piece of equipment, it does need a lot of my time to use it to its full potential. When it is returned I will explain all about this.

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webcams

The Squirrels have started to use the Squirrel feeder that…

The Squirrels have started to use the Squirrel feeder that can be viewed by the main Badger camera. Once we put a Bird feeder nearby, the Squirrel soon found the feeder. There were two on it this morning, having a push and shove to see who was going to stay. It is a good spot to get an obstacle course set up. I will give the Squirrels another week to get use to where the feeder is, then I will put up another post with a piece of wood between the two posts. Something easy to start with, so they are not put off by it. I saw one some years back, there were some difficult challenges for the Squirrels to do, before they got the peanuts, but they always worked it out.

We tried to move the sheep again today, they were having none of it. I have had to put a pen up, made of gates, and have started to feed them in it. The idea is that when there are a good few Sheep in the pen, I will close a gate behind them. I can then handle them to get them in a trailer, and take them up to the field that we have prepared for them.

Anyone who had seen last nights diary about the fish, and had seen the fish that I had on camera today, would have thought that I was romancing about the size of them. I looked a good few times to see if there were any good sized fish. All that were there were five to eight inch fish. Quite a few of them were Tench, the first time that I have seen any, other than what had been caught by people fishing.

Because of the number of cameras that are installed at Denbury, I have to have quite a sophisticated setup, that allows me to change over the cameras, so that they are able to be viewed on camera one and camera two thumbnails. I also have CCTV monitors that allows me to view any one, or all of the cameras privately. My television is a monitor. Without a Sky box I would not be able to watch television on it, but I am able to watch one, or all of the cameras on the monitor, I can also watch them in picture in picture. So there is not a lot I should miss. The reason I mention this, is that I watch the valley camera more than any other, except Lady’s camera. Just recently I have seen very little going on down the valley, which is a surprise, considering the area it covers, and with the woods on both sides. The IR lamps make the eyes stand out of any animal that may come into view. I use to very often pick up wildlife, but it has gone quite. Let me know on the forum if you see anything. After Lady has her foal, I will leave the valley camera on over night.