When I built the holt at Yew View, I knew it was going to flood at some point…. just didn’t think it would be quite so soon! The River Severn is pretty volatile and a lot of rain in Wales means that , within 24 hrs, the river level will begin to rise. I had not anticipated quite how quickly it would rise. When I built the holt, I created something that should cope with flood. It usually only happens a couple of times a year and the top chamber should escape most of them. I built it from breeze blocks and put in drains in each chamber. The cameras are mounted on removable set-ups so they can be pulled out quickly.
Unfortunately, by the time we got to them, the lower chamber camera was already under water….
The camera actually filmed under water for about an hour until the water got into it, sadly. It is drying out in the airing cupboard and I have not given up hope yet. The top chamber camera was retrieved and is safe.
In this picture, you can see the top chamber and the lower one is somewhere under the river!!
Before the river had risen, I had started to film some visitors within the chambers, even though it wasn’t quite finished yet.
I am really pleased with the image I am getting with these Hikvision dome cameras. I can zoom and focus these from the PC.
The badgers are also feeding regularly and not fussed by the white lights on this camera which illuminate the area.
A few foxes are also visiting regularly now and one even turned up with his own food!…
After quite a long period with very little action in the badger sett, we have had several individuals visiting and some staying all through the day; something that has only happened a few times since I built the sett. The trouble with staying in there all day, is that sometimes you get caught short… not sure I would want to do this in my bedroom!
This would probably not happen in a larger sett, where there would be more chambers and the chance to safely move from a sleeping chamber into another chamber to relieve yourself. This individual did not seem too worried, so maybe it does happen more than we might think!
Finally, it was good to see this kingfisher back on her post and catching a lot of fish from the wildlife pond. I hope she starts visiting more….