The trail camera. IR night lighting at the top. Three passive infra red sensors at the bottom. (one pointing forwards and the others angled at 45 degrees). Camera in the middle.
Left it for a couple of days and discovered, though it worked, it worked too well.
The only stranger captured was this wannabe tiger strolling through:
Camera set up to take three shots in fairly quick succession every time it is triggered.
Of course you can guess who always features at some time or other:
But, there was a big problem. The branches, top left and right, waft about in the slightest breeze and keep triggering the camera during sunny daylight hours. That resulted in hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of photos with not a life form in sight and a lot of extra drain on the batteries. There is a lower setting for sensitivity but that risks missing anything of interest. For the moment it has been moved back to its original position.
I did consider a few other solutions.
1) set limits on the times it is operational.
2) use a higher pole and point the camera down more.
3) cut down the tree branches in its view.
With the first I would miss any daytime visitors.
The second wouldn't give me the profile view of visitors that I want.
I've done enough tree pruning for now. I want to keep some greenery.
Recently I made a start clearing the overgrown fruit cage.
There are more weeds and grass than anything else.
Then I can get rid of the blackcurrant bushes (not allowed to eat those any more).
Maybe plant more raspberry canes.
I stick to working outdoors before 9.30 a.m. to avoid the heat.
Maybe a hood on the camera would solve the problem. I must dig mine out and see if it still works.
ReplyDelete