Friday, March 29, 2013

Camera trapping - SN23 - 19th Feb - 11th March 2013


Surfing the internet for any information on using camera traps to record stoats, weasels and polecats, I discovered that researchers in the Netherlands had had some success with a box they called a "Mostela".  Jenny McPhearson of the Vincent Wildlife Trust had some of these made up and was willing to lend one for the project.  So for the second site, the Mostela was used instead of the seed tray.

The traps were out for a longer period simply because I went on holiday for a couple of weeks.  But the longer period didn't necessarily mean more mammals!

The Mostela was discovered by a house mouse who made repeated visits over at least three nights until the card in the camera ran out of space to record his antics.  One of the other cameras recorded several birds - a jay, a great tit, and what was probably an owl landing on a nearby fence post as a strange shape appeared in the top corner of the frame on a couple of nights. 

The third camera recorded nothing again.  After some discussion with the camera supplier, the problem was found to be a setting way down the menu that effectively meant the camera was switched off.
 
Again, on the farm in general, there were moles, badgers, foxes and frogs.
 
Thanks to Lyndsey & Steve at Ffynon Halog


Video of house-mouse in the mostela.

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