When you don't want cats you get them, but perseverance pays off and we finally get an otter on camera

I am lucky enough to have access to a private wood and river in Kintyre, where the owners allow me to trial out my cameras before putting them out in more remote locations. I am able to try different techniques in a safe location trying to get the best shots possible

For a change, as a favour to the owners, I have been trying to get images of the otters that frequent the river. With sardines, codling, and mackeral as bait, the cameras have been placed on a small "beach" on the river bank, where otter prints have been spotted

So what did I get when I first checked the camera, did I get an otter, nope I got a black cat. Not one of the big ones, but a big feral tom cat that puts in rare appearances in the area


Undaunted, I re-baited the area, and left the camera to do its work. Returning today, I collected the SD card from the camera, and checked the images. And what was the first image on the card, was it the elusive otter. No, just another feral cat. This time a black and white one, which the owners think is the mate of the black one.


Here we go again, I thought, but the rest of the pictures on the card, put a smile on my face. We got the otter. Ok, they are not the greatest shots. No perfect profiles, but definitely otter. Another one to add to the list of animals captured on our cameras

Shaun Stevens (BCIB Argyll)

Buzzards and a Hooded Crow

At the new location in Kintyre, I have two Cuddeback cameras at either end of a grass path through a newly planted wood. The trees are about 4-5 foot high. This location was chosen because some large scat was found here in the past which was very cat like. It has been baited with fresh rabbit, (taken by pest control from the local golf courses), with the hope the cat will return.

Well, the rabbit was stripped bare within days leaving nothing but fur and a couple of leg bones. The culprit was not a big cat unfortunately, but a crow, a hooded crow, and two buzzards.

Shaun Stevens
BCIB Argyll

First pictures from a new location in Kintyre

Although I have left a single camera located at each of the sites in Kintyre previously featured in this blog, I have recently put 6 cameras into a brand new location. This location is one I have been wanting to get into for several years and is smack in the middle of the area that has had more cat sightings than any other in Kintyre over the last 5 years.

These images are from the camera that I currentlty have on loan from a good friend, Dick Raynor of the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau.


I have placed this camera on the edge of a forest fence, where it is obvious that an animal has crawled under it creating a very large hole. As you can see, it is not just one animal that is using this "tunnel", as we have images of both fox and badger. Along with a number of sub-adult pheasants. The hole in the fence is to the left of the frame.

Daytime Shots of a Fox and Wood Pigeon

Most of my images of foxes from Kintyre are usually night shots. But for a change, I managed to get a day time shot of a fox. And just to keep it company I've added a one of a wood pigeon as well

With me being away for a week or so, I'm are slightly behind with the postings on this blog. I have a number of images to put up, and I'll try to do so over the next few days.

Shaun Stevens
(BCIB Argyll)

Badger, Fox and Roe Deer

Here are the latest batch of images from the same location as the unidentified large cat in Argyll. Along with tens of pictures of a fox, there was also one of the badger, that likes to make an appearance every now and then, (and I still can't find out where it is coming from as there is no sign of a badger sett anywhere nearby). Also a nice close up picture of a roe deer doe, and a blurry roe deer buck on the run

Shaun Stevens (BCIB Argyll

Extraordinary image of a bat in flight

Yet again, the Argyll location throws up another wonderful image. The camera was obviously set off by the young roe deer, but as it flashed, the bat was caught in flight. I'm unsure of the species in question as the image isn't clear. But if anyone has any thoughts we'd love to hear them.

So we can now add "bat" to our ever increasing collection of animals caught on camera

Shaun Stevens
BCIB Argyllshire

















Latest:

The owners of the land the photo was taken on, have informed me they have a colony of pipistrelle bats in the roof of their house. There is a good chance this bat is from that colony.

BCIB Trigger Camera Project featured in the National Press

15th August 2010 - Sunday Post - Page 23














Click on image to zoom in and read the article

Short-Eared Owl on a Car Cam

Although this is not from a trigger cam, it is the result of yet another tool the BCIB members use in their efforts to capture an image of a big cat.

A lot of big cat sightings are made from people's cars, as the cats run across the road in front of them whilst driving. Obviously there is no chance for anybody to stop their cars and whip out a camera, because by the time they have registered what they have seen, the animal has disappeared from sight.

In order to increase their chances of filming a big cat, many BCIB members have rigged up small camcorders in their cars to film the road ahead, whilst visiting big cat locations. Every week, usually on a Sunday night I do just this. With a Sony DCR-SR32 HD Handycam set on "nightshot plus" mode, mounted on the car dashboard with a clamp, I leave at 11 pm to do a 90 minute circuit of the single track B roads through the forests of south Kintyre. Over the years I've filmed deer, foxes, badgers, feral cats, wildcat hybrids, toads, frogs, rabbits, hares, buzzards and tawny owls using this set up. Mostly I manage to get maybe 10-20 seconds of footage of these animals in the car head lights before they run away. Tonight however was a different story. Tonight I managed to get a lovely piece of footage of a species I have never filmed before, a Short-Eared Owl.

I see owls regularly, all of them tawny owls and usually sat on fence posts. They never stay there for long because as soon as you draw near in the car they fly off. Not tonight though. I'd just stopped the car because a wildcat hybrid has crossed in front of me and disappeared into the grass out of sight. As I moved slowly off, about 30 seconds later I saw an animal at the side of the road. Initially I thought it may be a rabbit or even a kitten, (I'd seen a wildcat hybrid with a kitten a mile or so away a few days ago), but as I got closer I could see it was an owl, and not a tawny owl like I usually see, but what I believed was a short-eared owl, (I'm sure the ornithologists out there will correct me if I am wrong). Certainly a new one for me. Interestingly it allowed me to drive right up to it, to about a couple of yards away. After filming it for a minute or so, and realising that it hadn't left the road and flown off, as owls are prone to do whenever I get close to them, I wondered whether it was injured. I live in a place called Campbeltown in Argyll, and we are lucky to have the Scottish Owl Centre in the town, so my thoughts were, if it was injured I could get it to the experts within 20 minutes. So I got out of the car and slowly approached it. As I crouched down to within a few inches of it, it flew off. Why it didn't move off the road as I approached it in the car I have no idea, but it appeared to be in good health and flew off into the night safe and sound.

I may not have got any footage of the local big cat, but to get within a few inches of a beautiful bird like that, more than makes up for it. All in all a great night.



Shaun Stevens

(BCIB Argyllshire)

Deer Olympics

It looks like our Roe Deer group from Kintyre have decided to enter the Deer Olympics in 2012. As you can see, their training regime includes doing shuttle runs up and down the hill. Hopefully their training will pay off and they will bring home the gold.

Shaun Stevens
(BCIB Argyllshire)

Fox photo strip and a hungry badger

After baiting an area in a forest in the south of Kintyre, this fox appeared and gobbled up all the bait. While a poor badger arrived too late to grab an easy meal. These images were captured using a Cuddeback Trail Cam

Shaun Stevens
BCIB Argyllshire

Roe Deer Video Compilation, Argyll - July 2010

I'm not the greatest whiz behind a keyboard, and I seem to be learning new stuff everyday. Todays new stuff is that I've managed to work out how to join several short video clips into one longer video clip.

Easy peasy, I hear all you younger computer geniuses shouting at your pc. But I'm an oldie who never touched a computer at school, so it takes a while for me to catch up.

Anyway............................here are all the clips of the group of Roe Deer currently using this small wood in Kintyre, Argyll. As you can see there are two different bucks, at least two fawns, and either two or three does.

Night Vision Roe Deer Video from Argyll

Another video from the recent crop of video's recently captured in Argyll.

This time a short close up video of the mature Roe Deer buck, using the night vision IR setting on the camera.

Mature Roe Deer Buck Video from Argyll

Once again I've been lucky with one of my cameras. Still no big cat, but I got a number of video's of a small group of Roe Deer, in a small wood on private land in the south of Kintyre. The group seems to comprise of a mature buck, with some nice large antlers, a smaller younger buck just starting to grow his antlers. Two or possibly three females. One with one fawn and one with twin fawns. I'll post these video's over the next few weeks.

The first one is of the larger Roe Deer buck, you can clearly see him rubbing his antlers against a fallen branch. This video was taken at about 3:00pm on the 13th July 2010

The strange thing is, the owners of the land had remarked that they hadn't seen any deer for weeks, and wondered if they had moved elsewhere. They were also only aware of one buck and a couple of females with one fawn. I'm pleased that we can show there are a lot more deer hiding in their woods than they thought. It just shows how well these animals are able to blend into their surroundings.

Shaun Stevens
(BCIB Argyll)

Black-Faced Ewe - Checking out one of our cameras

Last month I had my camera set up to follow a track line down to a small stream. unfortunately no cats, but plenty of inquisitive sheep. This ewe posed nicely for the camera.



Shaun Stevens

(BCIB Argyllshire)

Roe Deer Portrait from Argyllshire - (From the BCIB Files)

I have had my cameras in various locations in Argyll for about five years. Plenty of shots of waving branches, deer backsides, and domestic animals, but every now and then you get that almost perfect shot of a wild animal. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting some of my favourites.

Today it's a young Roe Deer buck, taken with a Wildview camera in 2009.

Shaun Stevens (BCIB Argyllshire)

Ducks and Deer - More Video clips from Argyll

I am currently testing a Moultrie I-40 camera loaned to me by Dick Raynor of the Loch Ness Investigation website. It is currently placed on a small river in the south of Kintyre, Scotland, overlooking a shallow part of the river. (Although thanks to the rain over the last week or so, this spot is now under several feet of water as the second short video shows.)

I've never tried placing a camera on a river before, so I was interested to see if the movement of the river would actually give false trigger readings. Happily this has not been the case.

On checking the camera today, there were two interesting videos. The first is of a young Roe Deer Buck, walking across the river. The other of a duck and her two ducklings floating by on the currently fast running water. According to the owners of the land where the camera is placed this duck actually had four ducklings orginally, as of today they inform me, she still has the two surviving youngsters.

The first video was taken at 8:38am on the 29th June 2010, and the second at 4:13pm on the 4th of July 2010.

Note the change in the height of the river in the few days between the video clips.

Shaun Stevens
BCIB Argyllshire

Who's there?

Roe Deer From Argyll

Fallow Deer Trigger Cam Video Clips

These video clips of a fallow deer doe and a young fallow deer buck were taken in Argyllshire in the last week using a Moultrie Game Spy D40 camera.

Is this evidence of a big cat?

This picture was taken from an undisclosed location in the west of Scotland. It is part of an ongoing investigation into a area where, over a number of years, there have been numerous sightings of large cats, and the occasional livestock attack. This cat is estimated to be almost 3 foot in body length. Measurements of the tree branch and comparison photographs taken on site confirm this size.


Image taken using a Moultrie Game Spy D40 Camera. Image is strictly copyrighted to the BCIB and not to be reproduced in any form elsewhere without permission.

Click on the image to zoom in.

SHAUN STEVENS
BCIB Argyllshire Rep

Latest Images from Argyllshire

These images were taken from an undisclosed location in Argyll, Scotland.

The cameras are owned by BCIB Argyllshire rep, Shaun Stevens and are Moultrie Game Spy D40 Digital Trail Cameras.

Click on the images to see close ups


A Red Fox
















A Fallow Deer Buck
















A Badger
















A possible Cuckoo,
(we would be interested if any ornithologists could confirm the identity of this bird)