Last week, after the hunters had been through, we brought the trail camera home to recharge the batteries (rather good - in general they only need doing every couple of months or so), dry it out a bit, and download all the files of what it had recorded. There were 714 photographs and 713 video streams - that is an awful lot to work through, triage, delete etc. I download everything onto my desktop computer, clear the SD card (it's a big one, but even so there are limits!), so I can work through everything in slow time (should such a thing ever exist).
I've been through the first 460 photographs in detail, removing a lot that were either nodding bits of vegetation, things were going on beyond the reach of the infrared camera at night, or where the lens had fogged up or frosted up. In addition, I removed a bunch of not very interesting images as well. That has still left some 140 images to work with, and that is before I get onto the videos.
Today I have focussed on birds, as there was a lot of bird activity before New Year where the camera was placed. Next week I will show the animal activity there. Most varieties were captured more than once by the camera, but the Green Woodpecker only turned up once among the files.
The most persistent visitors were the blackbirds. I assume it is a breeding pair, but it could have been a whole family - I'm afraid they all look the same to me. They really do enjoy turning over leaves!
Another frequent visitor was a thrush - I love them, but don't get to see them, I just hear them and find their anvils surrounded by snail shells, so it is lovely to see them in the feather, so to speak. If you click on the link, the picture does show up, I've no idea why it doesn't show with the others.
The male or cock pheasant is a more frequent visitor to the camera - I think he likes to show off - but a hen did come around too for contrast.
Much more difficult to spot, but very seasonal for when these photos were taken, was a robin that had a good scrummage round the area for a week or two. He is practically round as it was very cold at that stage.
So that's your lot for this week, next week I will look at the animals that were operating in that area from mid-November to the 1st January when the camera moved on. And I will include video too! Probably
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