A snuffling Dorset Badger

And yet another one from Joe. This time it's the dear old badger rooting around in the long grass. Joe seems to have the knack for getting good wildlife clips. Fingers crossed he gets a feline wandering past his camera.

Another new species captured on camera. A Tawny Owl

Dorset's Joe Parkes has come up trumps with a new species for our list. This is a nice short video of a Tawny Owl.

Mystery Animal from Dorset

We have a new researcher on board, Joe Parkes, and he has sent in several videos from his camera in Dorset. We will be posting the rest of them over the next few weeks. Today however we get a chance to look at a very intriguing video from him.

Your thoughts would be most welcome.

Muntjac video from the Chilterns

As you can see from this video from Paul Nicolaides, the muntjac deer are settling in nicely in the UK. More food for the Big Cats to snack on maybe. This video is from May 2011

Catch The Pigeon

From Tim Jenkins in Warwickshire

A short video clip of a persistent pigeon and a guard hen.

Excellent size Comparison Video from Gary Ridley

Gary Ridley created this great little video in his efforts to photograph the "Surrey Puma"

There are some wonderful images of the local wildlife

An Historical Brain Teaser for all you big cat buffs.......

This is an image taken a good while back by Mark Fraser on one of his ancient Trail Master cams........(ah those were the days, 36 exposure 35mm film, never knowing what you had got till you got the film back from the developers. Usually costing £6.99 only to find you've got 36 pictures of a waving tree or bush)

Can anyone tell me the backgound behind this image. Clue - it relates to a very famous incident

A tagged Red Kite

This was sent in by Paul Nicolaides in Buckinghamshire, just over twelve months ago, (I told you I was a bit behind..............!)

This was a first for us at the time, a Red kite. And not only that it is a tagged bird as well. Does anyone have any ideas about the tag?



Oh and ignore the date on the pic, if I remember rightly Paul was having problems at the time with setting the date on his camera

A first showing of images from the Scottish Highlands

Todays images come from Ian Fraser's cameras which are currently deployed in Morayshire, Scotland. They show a nice selection of the Scottish wildlife including Roe Deer, Fox, Pheasant and .............well I'll let you try and identify the other bird species











Can you identify this species of game bird?

We're Back ..............!

Ok so I've been a naughty boy and havn't put any of the groups tail cam pics up for a while, but I've got no excuse now, so here goes the first one.

This is from Rick Minter at a site in Gloucestershire last year. It's a mad March Hare on a collision course with the camera.

The big mouthed Fox and the Muntjac From Surrey

Gary Ridley the BCIB Rep in deepest darkest Surrey sent in these images.

I'll let him explain his set-up.

"These are the latest shots from my new camera trap. (following the theft of my other one.) It’s positioned on a game trail cross roads. It’s secured to the tree in a Cuddesafe bear proof anti-theft box. Hopefully I might get a shot of the Lynx that has been seen in this area.

New Images Coming Soon

Due to unforseen circumstances, we have not been able to update this blog until now. Inspite of no new images posted for nearly 3 months our cameras have been clicking away merrily over the winter period, snow and all. With a great variety of wildlife captured.

In the next few weeks we will post all the images, (in no particular order), gathered in this time.

Please check back every few days to see what we have filmed.

Shaun Stevens
BCIB West Somerset.

Roe deer from Buckinghamshire

Paul Nicolaides has passed on these nice shots of a Roe deer buck and doe. These are from a new location Paul is trying out. Ignore the dates on the pictures. One of the drawbacks of the cameras, is that every time you change the batteries they reset themselves and you have to re-input the time and date. Sometimes you just forget to do so.!

A great set of pictures of a badger from one of our sponsored cameras

Thomas Jacks Ltd, kindly donated two Spypoint cameras. One was placed in Kintyre, and has taken some great wildlife shots. Badger, fox and buzzards have all been captured on hundreds of shots. Though we are still waiting for the cat to make an appearance.

This set of 29 images are of the local badger, having a good sniff around in front of the camera. I will post the foxes and buzzards at a later date.

New Member, New Location, New Camera, New Images

Sharon Ramsden is one our newest members, and she joins Rik Snook in covering Kent and the South East.

She has placed the trail camera in a private wood in Kent near a field of sheep. Over the last few years something has been killing the sheep and they have never found out what is killing them. Back in 2008 there were two sightings of a big cat in a village 2 miles away. There was a unreported sighting about the same time of a big cat on farmland the other end of the village in which Sharon lives.

Sharon is also using a new brand of trail camera in the BCIB Trigger Camera Network It is a G&L M100. As you can see, the images are very clear.

So far Sharon has managed to get some nice shots of grey squirrels and foxes. Fingers crossed she finds out what has been attacking the sheep.

Fox trying out the dinner laid on by the BCIB

Tim Jenkins in Warwickshire discovered a great sequence of photo's of a fox tucking into a rabbit when he checked his and Martin Cotterills' cameras on Monday. There were also a few dogs, a robin posing right in front of the cam and a very curious Homo sapiens!

These cams are in a location which has had previous big cat sightings and they are regularly baited with rabbits but unfortunately this particular rabbit was now quite ripe! The fox didn't seem to mind in the slightest though.

It does demonstrate how effective the cams are should we ever get a visit from a big cat though.





And of course our interested forestry worker. Smile Please !

Badger on the run - video

Martin Cotterill (BCIB Worcestershire), checked his cameras this weekend, only to discover he had left the cam on the video setting in error. Not to worry though, as he managed to get a short video clip of a badger scuttling away into the bushes

Even the pheasants are joining in the Halloween celebrations

Thanks to Rick Minter (BCIB Gloucestershire) for this image.

Muntjac Portraits

We may still be waiting for a clear image of a big cat, but some members are getting plenty of shots of another alien species, the Muntjac deer.


Originally from China, the first muntjac escapees came from Woburn Park in the mid 1920's. The current estmates indicate that the UK population is around 150,000, and increasing at around 8%-10% per year. It is believed that within a few decades they will be the most numerous species of deer in the UK, if left unchecked

These images have been captured by Martin Cotterill in Warwickshire on his Scoutguard cam.

Sad to report, that we have had a number of camera's stolen

One of the downsides of putting out these cameras, is the possibilty of them being stolen. I my self had two stolen a few years ago, and other members of the BCIB have also had cameras stolen in the past. I could say something about the people who take these cameras, but what's the point. The police can't do anything about it and the chances of getting them back are virtually nil. We pay for these cameras out of our own pockets and we can't always replace them straight away, especially in todays financial climate.

Bob Wallace had a camera stolen from a location in Fife in August, and we have just been informed that new BCIB member Gary Ridley has had his camera stolen in Surrey.

Gary is offering a reward for the return of the camera, and his story can be read here

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2081288_theft_hampers_efforts_to_snap_legendary_big_cat

Theft hampers efforts to snap legendary big cat
By Guy Martin
October 29, 2010

A CAMERA positioned to capture the appearance of the legendary Surrey puma has itself disappeared this week.

The £300 device was put up at the Wotton Estate on Saturday (October 23) by the Surrey representative of Big Cats in Britain, but by Wednesday it had gone.

Gary Ridley is offering a cash reward for anyone with information on how it disappeared from the White Down Lane area of Abinger Hammer and which leads to its return.

He was keen to gather photographic evidence of the presence of a big cat in the area after a report of a sighting from a train to the north of Dorking station in September.

A woman passenger on her way to work said she had seen a golden brown animal which “looked like a lioness but not as bulky".

The animal was said to be around two metres long and was seen from around 100m away, from the 7.02am train to London Waterloo.

She reported the animal looked like a skinny lioness or a puma, and it was said to be skulking low through a field of sheep. Other passengers had apparently not looked up from their newspapers and so they missed it.

The sighting came as no surprise to Mr Ridley, who had his camouflage bark-coloured camera specially imported from the USA to capture such moments.

He had positioned the specialist piece of equipment, which others will struggle to operate without a manual or expert knowledge, on a gatepost.

“It had only been out there for four nights,” he said. “It’s an area where this cat may well move through. This puma may well have come from the Kent area, from Tunbridge Wells.

“We are trying to establish where they are, but we need proof. It’s all hearsay. There have been lots and lots of sightings so we are desperate to get these cameras out there.

“We’re desperate to get this camera back. I’m appealing to people’s good side to help us get it back.”

Anyone with information or with a sighting to report should e-mail garyridley@hotmail.co.uk.

Mr Ridley said there were signs that big cats were out in the area, but proving it has been difficult because they are so elusive and people are sceptical.

“The amount of sightings that there are prove to us that there is a phenomenon going on,” he said.

“The government are not going to want people to know that there are big cats out there because it will lead to fear.

“Rotting carcasses have gone missing and there are a number of pictures, but they are grainy. We just want one picture, but they are so elusive and they are nocturnal.”

Reported sightings of mystery beasts in the area in the past decade have been made near Farnham as well as in Shamley Green, Worplesdon and Tadworth.

Such sightings have given birth to the popular legend of the Surrey puma, and Mr Ridley said his father-in-law had also seen one in Clandon Park.

“They are out there and they are breeding,” he insisted.

Little Critters from Warwickshire

Tim Jenkins, the Warickshire rep for the BCIB, has sent in these latest images from his new Scout Guard camera. Because he was unable to bait these cameras, it seems that the larger animals are keeping away, but he did get some nice shots of the country's smaller animals. Grey Squirrel, Rabbit and the smallest deer in the UK, the Muntjac

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)

New BCIB Member shows us his recent camera images.

Gary Ridley has recently joined our ranks and will be covering the county of Surrey. He has had trail cameras out in the field for a while and has sent these great clear shots of a fox and badger that were taken recently on his Cuddeback camera.

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.