At the end of March I placed a trail camera in one of the cleared reedbed rides at The Loons reserve, opposite the hide. I set the camera up for a week on a setting that I thought would take a single image every 15minutes or whenever the sensor was triggered by heat / movement. The first image caught on camera was a loon (yes, me!)
However, when I went to retrieve the camera from the site - I was amazed to see that it had taken 9,500 images!!! I assumed the wind had been a factor setting it off every now and then in addition to the setting I had made. On reviewing the images I soon realised that my settings had been for every minute (not every 15) an image was to be taken - ooops. Regardless of this slight technical glitch by the operator. What did we find out?
Well, many blank images... a pair of Greylags nesting. Eight bird species recorded on film; Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Grey Heron, Mallard, Teal, Moorhen, Coot and Short-eared Owl. No sign of an Otter which had been my target species initially. So all in all a good trial for the trail camera. Expect more images throughout the season as I deploy it in various places - fingers crossed.
Photo - Short-eared Owl & Greylag stand off...
Cheers Alan
PS - I must add looking through the images all 9,500 was not done during RSPB time - My children were the main editors...
whoops I meant third, I forgot the loon .... also v. funny
LOL that's a lot of photos, the second one made me splutter tea all over the keyboard