The video is a bit smudged from our friend the badger, and on first glance a friend of mine thought they looked more like a New Zealand Kiwi. Kiwis they are not, or else I'd have every birder in Britain trying to find out where the trailcam is and trying to obtain the most tickable bird ever probably)..... but at least for the BCIB, we can now tick off partridge on our species list.
Charlie Bones (BCIB Sussex)
Showing posts with label Charlie Bones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlie Bones. Show all posts
Friday, 24 September 2010
Monday, 13 September 2010
Hungry badger taste testing the camera.
I had a bit of a shock when I recently checked the trailcam. I check it every week, the batteries and memory can last at least a month but I look forward to viewing what pictures it's captured, I find it very exciting and captivating. Plus if anything has gone wrong, I can sort it out.
On checking the camera this time I found the camo net was torn and the lens was smudged. Although the angle was still roughly right it certainly wasn't how I left it.
The culprit, as I played back the 30 second film was plain to see. It was the badger who shows up from time to time. Still, no harm done as it seems this cam is bulletproof and hopefully it will leave it alone now it's had a taste. I've set it for the prime purpose of capturing a cat, so even the up close shots should fit the whole body in. Although the videos now will be a bit overexposed as it points more up to the sky......
Charlie Bones (BCIB Sussex)
On checking the camera this time I found the camo net was torn and the lens was smudged. Although the angle was still roughly right it certainly wasn't how I left it.
The culprit, as I played back the 30 second film was plain to see. It was the badger who shows up from time to time. Still, no harm done as it seems this cam is bulletproof and hopefully it will leave it alone now it's had a taste. I've set it for the prime purpose of capturing a cat, so even the up close shots should fit the whole body in. Although the videos now will be a bit overexposed as it points more up to the sky......
Charlie Bones (BCIB Sussex)
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Black Cat and Rabbit
Once again the heart skips a beat when I saw it, but once again it's a black feral cat and it looks similar to the one I posted earlier. There havn't been any foxes show up on the cam since the end of July, but I doubt whether this sort of cat would put them off. Perseverance, hopefully, will pay dividends.
Charlie Bones (BCIB Sussex and Sussex Big Cat Watch)
Charlie Bones (BCIB Sussex and Sussex Big Cat Watch)
Friday, 20 August 2010
Even the little critters are strutting their stuff now
How does the saying go? Never how far away from a rat?
10 feet, 20 feet, I can't remember who said it and where, but I thought I'd give this little blighter his five minutes of fame, seeing as it keeps cropping up on the trailcam.
They too can travel a lot, up to 2 miles. I know this because some naturalist friends live trapped quite a few, put vegetable dye on their backs and let them go. They then found a couple eating food left out a few nights later. They had travelled nigh on 2 miles but then it was winter so I suppose they look around a lot for food then and there was none where they were let go. All in the interests of science of course.........
Charlie Bones
BCIB Sussex and Sussex Big Cat Watch
10 feet, 20 feet, I can't remember who said it and where, but I thought I'd give this little blighter his five minutes of fame, seeing as it keeps cropping up on the trailcam.
They too can travel a lot, up to 2 miles. I know this because some naturalist friends live trapped quite a few, put vegetable dye on their backs and let them go. They then found a couple eating food left out a few nights later. They had travelled nigh on 2 miles but then it was winter so I suppose they look around a lot for food then and there was none where they were let go. All in the interests of science of course.........
Charlie Bones
BCIB Sussex and Sussex Big Cat Watch
Tree climbing fox, and those pesky fleas
Now that the trailcam is set on video I'll try and post anything of interest. The quality is not as good as stills, as it's not really designed for it, but it does show animal movements and personally I prefer it. There is also a better chance of capturing a bigcat on the video setting.....
Charlie Bones
BCIB Sussex and Sussex Big Cat Watch
Charlie Bones
BCIB Sussex and Sussex Big Cat Watch
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Big Black Cat photographed on one of our cameras
Another one from Charlie at the Sussex Big cat group.
Now if only we could get one just a little bit bigger...........but I'll let Charlie tell the story.
Be careful what you wish for,as they say.
I suppose I should of wished for world peace, harmony at home or something else mutually benificial but no, big cat fanatacism grips tight, so on a recent birthday celebration I wished for pictures of a cat and not just that, but posing nicely in front of the trailcam. Maybe I should also of been more specific and prefixed "big" but I was under pressure, what with my lungs bursting under the pressure of blowing out all the candles on the cake.
So, taking the day off work I took the journey to deepest rural Sussex to check on the trailcam. It's been a week and the long trek in the sultry dog days of late july brought me sweating and exhausted to the cam spot. "I saw a big black cat" was the sighting description there from the sheep farmer previously. "No, not a leopard or anything like that,just a very big,black cat the size of a labrodor", he had told me.
Checking the 150 odd pics on the 2"lcd screen I came across 2 pics of a definitely black cat. The sweat had gone in my eyes and shaking with adrenaline, as I tried to make out scale on the tiny screen, the battery went. Well,I had planned to make a bit of a day out of it. Swap the card and battery over and maybe do a bit of bird watching. And let the dogs have a cooling swim in the river a few miles away, aiming to get home not far short of midnight.
But with some sort of cat pics on the card and the laptop sitting at home, it was a drive in nightmare rush hour traffic to get back and analyse the pictures. Uploading with the Hamas card reader is quick and simple now and as soon as the first one showed it was obvious what it was. The small neat feet,stumpy legs and short fur gave the clue, a feral cat. Albeit a big tom, miles from the nearest town and it had to amble past the cam! Never mind, onwards and upwards,if anything it just goes to show the trailcam is in top form and if a small one went past it just maybe it's bigger cousin will.............
Charlie Bones
Sussex Big Cat Watch
Now if only we could get one just a little bit bigger...........but I'll let Charlie tell the story.
Be careful what you wish for,as they say.
I suppose I should of wished for world peace, harmony at home or something else mutually benificial but no, big cat fanatacism grips tight, so on a recent birthday celebration I wished for pictures of a cat and not just that, but posing nicely in front of the trailcam. Maybe I should also of been more specific and prefixed "big" but I was under pressure, what with my lungs bursting under the pressure of blowing out all the candles on the cake.
So, taking the day off work I took the journey to deepest rural Sussex to check on the trailcam. It's been a week and the long trek in the sultry dog days of late july brought me sweating and exhausted to the cam spot. "I saw a big black cat" was the sighting description there from the sheep farmer previously. "No, not a leopard or anything like that,just a very big,black cat the size of a labrodor", he had told me.
Checking the 150 odd pics on the 2"lcd screen I came across 2 pics of a definitely black cat. The sweat had gone in my eyes and shaking with adrenaline, as I tried to make out scale on the tiny screen, the battery went. Well,I had planned to make a bit of a day out of it. Swap the card and battery over and maybe do a bit of bird watching. And let the dogs have a cooling swim in the river a few miles away, aiming to get home not far short of midnight.
But with some sort of cat pics on the card and the laptop sitting at home, it was a drive in nightmare rush hour traffic to get back and analyse the pictures. Uploading with the Hamas card reader is quick and simple now and as soon as the first one showed it was obvious what it was. The small neat feet,stumpy legs and short fur gave the clue, a feral cat. Albeit a big tom, miles from the nearest town and it had to amble past the cam! Never mind, onwards and upwards,if anything it just goes to show the trailcam is in top form and if a small one went past it just maybe it's bigger cousin will.............
Charlie Bones
Sussex Big Cat Watch
Sunday, 1 August 2010
Red Fox with a Rabbit just caught.
Using the near full moon to it's advantage, this fox has nabbed itself a rabbit. After I had checked the cam and left the wood, I then waited along a fenceline. A fox could could be seen stalking rabbits, possibly the same fox. The rabbit seems to be adult size and when the picture was taken it must of been so close to the cam to of brushed against it hence the over-exposure of the shot. I'm pretty sure the big cat that was in the area has moved on but these sort of snapshots of life at night make leaving the cam in situ (until a better place comes along), very worthwhile......
Charlie Bones
Sussex Big Cat Watch
Charlie Bones
Sussex Big Cat Watch
Friday, 23 July 2010
Badgers climbing trees in Sussex
Derek Bilston (BCIB Sussex) is also a member of The Sussex Big Cat Watch, a small group of investigators concentrating on researching the big cat sightings in their county. Charlie, one of their members has recently created a new blog detailing some of the research they are involved in. It is a very good read and can be found at http://bigcatdetective.blogspot.com/.
They too have a trigger camera and Charlie has kindly allowed us to reproduce those articles on his blog that show some of the resulting images from their camera. The camera they are using currently is a "Stealth Trail Camera GL M100"
We hope you enjoy them, and don't forget to check out their website and their blog.
These pictures of the badgers were picked up by our infrared camera following a successful 3 week trial. It is set up somewhere in Sussex nigh on permanently. Many thanks to the landowner concerned, for their help. I don't quite know what the one up the tree is doing. It could be looking for insects or maybe just being nosey. Whatever it is, I'm glad I didn't put the camera 2ft up that tree, given the power of their claws.
Charlie (Sussex Big Cat Watch)
They too have a trigger camera and Charlie has kindly allowed us to reproduce those articles on his blog that show some of the resulting images from their camera. The camera they are using currently is a "Stealth Trail Camera GL M100"
We hope you enjoy them, and don't forget to check out their website and their blog.
These pictures of the badgers were picked up by our infrared camera following a successful 3 week trial. It is set up somewhere in Sussex nigh on permanently. Many thanks to the landowner concerned, for their help. I don't quite know what the one up the tree is doing. It could be looking for insects or maybe just being nosey. Whatever it is, I'm glad I didn't put the camera 2ft up that tree, given the power of their claws.
Charlie (Sussex Big Cat Watch)
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