So I’ve made jokes about my lack of skills in the wildlife photography department… Very occasionally I get a little luck, like ol’ Jazz Hands here. But as part of my HNC I got to play with a proper trail camera, like someone who really tracks down animals and not just hopes that a heron will stick their landing in front of me.
It was actually a lot of fun to play with (and I’ll be honest here it was playing). I don’t have any real animal tracking skills and I don’t own the trail camera, so decided to put it where it wouldn’t be stolen and where I know there’s an animal to capture…. So it was placed in Indy’s stable to capture her movement overnight and it worked.
Here she is! I never catch her sleeping so this is really a bit of a treat.
So here’s some hard facts – it’s a Spypoint Force Dark Trail Camera and if you want to buy one Wex is charging £149 (at time of me writing anyway). This model can take photos, video and time lapse both in the dark, using infrared, and in colour. It has a 12 megapixel sensor and is “weather proof” (so I wouldn’t dunk it in the river). It takes a whopping 8 (eight) AA batteries (unless you can put your hands on a rechargeable battery unit for it but that will set you back about £65). However, it does have decent battery life for those 8 AAs. I used some bargain Kodak labled ones and got 4 full 18 hour stints out of them and they were only at 50%. In each of those nights there were about 650 images. This seems OK by my standards and matches what is stated on the websites for it surviving 7 days out in the wild.
I suppose that this isn’t the mose exciting use but I don’t know of any badger setts to stalk. I do know where some deer usually pass through for food but didn’t have long enough to trial that one out as an idea. Maybe next time.
Selkie’s Photography 
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