I have very nearly finished the Yew View Tawny box now. It now has two internal cameras and, last week, Dave and I moved the external camera , as it was still in the same position as it had been for the previous box. I needed the camera a little further away to accommodate the larger decking area. The standing platform Dave built me, under the box, paid dividends again as it was much easier to move the camera to the other side, giving me more scope to set it up to show the whole platform. The temporary roof is still in place as vile rainy weather made it too dangerous to go up and put the new one on, so excuse the poor felting on this temporary structure!
This week, I was keen to see if the owls had visited again and to check I had the positioning and the focus right on the exterior of the box. In fact, the owls did not actually go inside the box this week, but they visited regularly, often just sitting on the platform or looking in and calling. I am pleased with this new set up and the image I am getting. The owls seem to really like this new set-up and the branches I screwed on the edges… perfect for perching!
Here are a couple of video clips I lifted. We should get some great views of prey being bought in…
These owls are pretty active all over the site and I have captured them looking in the eco-box at the other end of the garden.
I also recorded them on the Owl Mansion at the far end of the garden. This seems to be a popular hunting spot! This was at 7.30am
I am feeling pretty confident they will return to the main box again for breeding early next year. Keep your fingers crossed!
Although the owls didn’t actually go in the box this week, the squirrel came in when the weather was poor as it was a warm and dry space. It gave me a chance to check the camera set-ups…
He looked a little bit too comfy…….
The image is looking pretty good. This is a Hikvision Dome IP camera. I also have lights inside the box that operate on a sensor, switching off at night. As you can see, the wildlife is not worried by this internal illumination.
The otter activity seems varied. Sometimes I get 4 or 5 visits a week to this area, sometimes just 1 or 2. All visits are pretty brief and just involve a sniff and spraint.
I am now working on the bird feeding areas, setting up new feeders and cameras and looking forward to greater numbers of visitors as we head toward colder weather. At the moment, the site is heaving with natural food. The fruit and berry crops are looking good so there is certainly not a shortage of food at the moment!
We are not getting much badger activity at the moment. Next week I am going to put some Bushnells at the main sett area, about a mile away, to check that all is well there. Hopefully, they will move back to Yew View over the winter.