Sleeping Badger

I was intending to write a little about one of the litters of Fox Cubs that I've been watching and filming recently, but I'll leave that till a little later as I came across this while I was walking through the woods the other day.
At first I thought it was another dead Badger (I've found several lately, most of them have had nasty, festering wounds as a result of being attacked by other Badgers, which can be common), but as I watched, it became clear that it was asleep beneath a tree. I watched it for about ten minutes before it stirred and had a good scratch.

Badger watching

A couple of nights ago, I thought I'd have a go at filming the Fox Cubs, with the camcorder, but the wind, though not strong, was swirling, which would've made it difficult for me to remain undetected. As I'm not easily put off, I decided to see if any badgers would appear from a nearby Sett, which is fairly sheltered from the wind.
After getting comfortable, I sat and waited, and after seeing several Rabbits emerge from the Sett, a larger, stripey head appeared in the mouth of one of the holes. I readied the camera, and when the badger (a Sow) eventually emerged, she ambled steadily up the bank and away, meaning I managed only about 15 seconds of video.
It's been obvious from many of the trail camera videos I've got from near this Sett, that the Sow is suckling a litter of Cubs (her teats are clearly visible), and didn't want to hang around for long, prefering to get out and forage to replace some of the many calories she'll be using up feeding them.
I hung around for a while, in the hope that another Badger would emerge, and as it got too dark to use the camcorder, I switched to the night vision. About 10 minutes after it got totally dark, the Boar appeared, and I managed to get a few minutes footage. As you can see, it came very close to me, without detecting that I was there, and after it wandered off, I headed home content with what I'd seen.

First Fox Cubs

I've been waiting patiently (though not too patiently!) for a litter of Fox Cubs to emerge above ground, in order to get some footage. Now that they've eventually obliged, I'm having to change the memory card in the camera every day, as there's that much activity going on!
It's obvious from the clip, that these Cubs are being well fed, and several of the videos have shown them playing with dead Ducklings-no coinicidence that a Mallard on a nearby pond hatched 16 Eggs on Sunday, and by Monday all of the Ducklings had dissappeared, very easy pickings for the Vixen!
More of the videos can be seen on the wildplaces youtube page.

Badger

I've been asked a lot lately whether animals can see the infra red light from our cameras, or whether they're are disturbed by them.
I'm certain that most of the animals we film, are aware of the light from most models of camera, but very few seem to be actually bothered by it. This clip of a Badger sniffing at the camera is fairly typical of the reaction of most animals , and I've recently got footage of several species including Otter, Roe, and even a Stoat checking out the cameras in this way (check the youtube page for some more clips).

Volunteer day

Besides collecting video footage and mammal records, the wildplaces project also carries out practical conservation work. We recently did some habitat management on the outskirts of Middlesbrough, at a very wildlife friendly farm where a lot of the video footage is collected. The farm grows willow which is used as a renewable energy source, being burned at the local power station to provide electricity.

These areas of Willow are proving to be very good habitat for several species, including Harvest Mice (which I'll hopefully be able to film in the near future).

We were helped on the day by students from Guisborough Askham Bryan college, who were on courses ranging from first diploma in animal care, to foundation degree in animal management.

The students were all very enthusiastic, and had a good time, getting really stuck into the work, and doing something which really does help the local wildlife.

A sign of the times

We're still deciding what course of action to take regarding the new high definition cameras, but hopefully we'll get them sorted out, as they're undoubtedly capable of producing some good, clear video.
In the meantime, here's a clip of some Roe Deer, which was sent to me by Paul Marsh, filmed on his own trail camera. Unfortunately, after obviously finding a very good location, his camera was stolen, which is a very sad sign of the times, I'm afraid.
Though his free time is very limited, Paul keeps us informed with his sightings of Mammals, which are very useful for our records. He was also intending to be a regular provider of video footage for the Wildplaces project. These cameras are not cheap, and hopefully the person that stole it will have a conscience, and return it... We live in hope.

New cameras

I was like a child on Christmas morning, as I waited impatiently for the files from the new camera to convert. But when I eventually got to see the results, I felt like the naughty child who had got no presents!... There was plenty of footage, but it was all very dark, and not even as good as the standard cameras. To say I was disappointed would be a massive understatement, so the next day I replaced the camera and also set another one in a different location about fifty metres away, determined to find out if it was just the one camera that was faulty. To cut a long story short, I got lots of footage, and while the cameras definitely don't perform to the standards stated by the manufacturer (the flash range is quoted at being effective to 40 feet, when it's actually barely a quarter of that) what was recorded is quite good quality. The microphone is very good, so make sure you have the volume switched on before watching the clip, because some of the sound is very interesting, especially the Otters calling. The Woodmouse by the way, is feeding on the leftovers from an Otters meal (a part eaten Trout). To see some very good daytime video taken by these new cameras, check out our wildplaces youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/WildPlacesNE