Back Garden Trail Cam

sphexx

sphexx

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Richard
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I think I need to post a smaller size?
 
sphexx said:
I messed up somehow and though I set the date/time I somehow unset it :(.
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Funnily enough I had the same experience, set date/time but it too defaulted the first time, after that it was retained.
 
Excellent videos, Richard. Not a good day for the starling, but somewhere there is probably some fluffy little sparrowhawks.

Liked the magpie - very little gets past them and they are pretty keen in dealing with things the don't like.

Dave
 
I does look like a starling but I think it’s a female blackbird. I havent had a starling here for 30 years (there was a big roost over tge road, the trees are still there but its all housing) though I used to see a few ousside M & S less than a miłe away.
They don’t care for being watched so I think it carried the blackbird a few feet to the hedge next the tripod and finished it off:

https://flic.kr/p/2j6dZ1n
 
gramps said:
Funnily enough I had the same experience, set date/time but it too defaulted the first time, after that it was retained.
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I wonder if I put the in the card while it was switched on or switched from ON to TEST, both of which they warn against in the instructions. They give a procedure to correct the ON to TEST fault, but I would expect “card while on“ wouldn’t change the settings.
 
sphexx said:
I wonder if I put the in the card while it was switched on or switched from ON to TEST, both of which they warn against in the instructions. They give a procedure to correct the ON to TEST fault, but I would expect “card while on“ wouldn’t change the settings.
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I can't really remember what I did but I didn't have the same problem with the replacement.
 
Rich how's all this been panning out for you?

cheers

stu
 
Stuart Philpott said:
Rich how's all this been panning out for you?

cheers

stu
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Nothing exciting since. Mabye I’m not on the fox’s “rounds“ these days now I have no chickens or ducks :) and the sparrowhawk does not only kill in that part of the garden. In fact I inadvertently set up a killing field for it when I first set the camera there as I put food out on the grass and it’s very clear there with no cover so I thought it a bit unfair on the blackbirds. If I could guarantee it got the woodies who are eating my bean shoots as they come up ... :).
 
Sorry slow Rich, I started to reply and my neighbour sent a text fox just run over but ran off into opposite field. So we spent a couple of hours feeling guilt and devastation and debating what we do instead. of replyiing forgive me,
We have put no extras out for charlie just the bird food left overs. If I stop feeding the bird to stop the foxes(possibly) from coming ,that would be bno good either Especially now with all the little ones( bird wise),i've taken something away that has been running for years that the parents probably take for granted. Not sure which way to turn really. The foxes are so damn jumpy and idiotts drive too fast on country lanes.


A couple of hours later vixen on lawn with all three cubs ,so,all seems well ( ahh the relief,hopefully they will be more cautious now) Amazing luck, forgive me though mate I can't keep up and am letting folks down allways. I asked for a reply then dissappear:banghead:

Rich slightly left field of trailcam ,but it's your thread,just fascinating reading about your rosecombs and also about how you felt about the spar predation,I just understand your feeling so well You wouldn't ever hurt a spar but we come to love these birds so much we keep ,hard to put into words. My very first chuck was incidentally a little black banty mongrel called Raven man I worshipped her. Ha you would have loved seeing her rearing gozzers ,so funny she would be trying to brood with her feet off the ground :LOL:. An amazing mum.

With all those chucks I kept I never really kept rosecomb,so forgive the offtopic it just seemed easier derailing your thread than John's peregrines;) and I wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading somewhere or other:D

It's strange not keeping birds,first time since leaving home for me,so approaching 40 years. I've always had charlie patrolling old run in front garden been there years. I have always though they patrol in patterns a few nights working one area then move to another part of territoryso maybe that's what's happening to you? Maybe they'll show again shortly. Mine haven't missed a night to my knowledge since we first saw the cub.

Lol I barely plant anything in the ground especially beans,ha the blummin mice , in a normal year are terrible ,So I dodge pigeon and mice that way it's labour intensive but works out. We get spar too ha got one lovely incident yet to share. My front garden is really tiny say 10yards sq, sort of a slightly managed jungle the hawks do take prey but they struggle becuase of the cover levels I think cover is part of why we see the sheer numbers we do. But, when there is a build up of prey density a predator will always turn up.

I've been watching the trail cam threads closely Rich. I've been debating getting one myself but i'm sort of leaning towards putting that money towards lighting and using the DSLR to film.now rather than the trail cam I don't care for the white eyes from IR,, I'm not really sure whether it's possible, to do what I want without spending a fortune so i'm trying to educate myself . Cheers for the reply I wanted to know how things were going along with you at home(although I do follow Roger's thread fairly closely),trying to work out my own next move

take care,
 
@Stuart Philpott . If your back garden is also fairly compact Stu I’d be inclined to agree about lighting. I did wonder about IR floodlights earlier and if you can run them off the mains that might work — I have no knowledge about this. Of course beasties can get quite acclimated to visible lighting too.

I use the very cheap Neos security cams (for security) and have one outside under the porch (but in an outdoor housing that Amazon sells) with a usb cord from inside the house. The quality is OK for that purpose & they do continuous recordings to a micro SD card but otherwise it’s a subscription. Anyway, the point is they send an alert to your phone if anything is detected so could be useful for finding “what” & ”when”.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neos-Smart...4&sr=1-1-91e9aa57-911e-4628-99b3-09163b7d9294
I see the price has gone up since I bought them :(.

I do miss the Rosecombs, I am lucky with my neighbours who never complained about the cocks crowing — fortunately not loud since they are so small, but piercing in the early hours in summer. If I was sitting out on a sunny day they’d come and stretch out around the chair — seemed very friendly but of course what they were doing was using me as cover from hawks and aircraft :).
 
@sphexx

That Neo camera looks interesting for both security & a garden cam as appropriate. I watched the Amazon page video and no mention of microSD for local/ non cloud storage???

If it is possible to safely run the USB power & data cable through the (seal) on double closed double glazed windows I might give one a punt................just need to consider positioning & coverage before doing so???

PS our front light comes on during the night with no obvious sign of what triggered it but we have at odd intervals spotted cats, hedgehogs & foxes crossing the garden ;)

PPS some of the reviews talk of an all too intrusive website registration process in regard to just how much personal data you have to give the company ~ does not sounds too attractive!!!
 
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Box Brownie said:
@sphexx

That Neo camera looks interesting for both security & a garden cam as appropriate. I watched the Amazon page video and no mention of microSD for local/ non cloud storage???

If it is possible to safely run the USB power & data cable through the (seal) on double closed double glazed windows I might give one a punt................just need to consider positioning & coverage before doing so???

PS our front light comes on during the night with no obvious sign of what triggered it but we have at odd intervals spotted cats, hedgehogs & foxes crossing the garden ;)

PPS some of the reviews talk of an all too intrusive website registration process in regard to just how much personal data you have to give the company ~ does not sounds too attractive!!!
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They changed “intrusive stuff” it’s OK now. They are owned by Aviva Insurance and British. Very good support etc. It’s the same hardware as the US Wyze cam but different (less good) software. Definitely take micro SD (I have one in mine). They work well but nothings perfect :(.

See https://neos.co.uk/
 
sphexx said:
They changed “intrusive stuff” it’s OK now. They are owned by Aviva Insurance and British. Very good support etc. It’s the same hardware as the US Wyze cam but different (less good) software. Definitely take micro SD (I have one in mine). They work well but nothings perfect :(.

See https://neos.co.uk/
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Thanks for the insights......I did find the website and had a quick look through the FAQs. It seems that for externally housed setup you cannot access the SD card (via the app) but just where is the SD card located? In the setup video the presenter did not discuss SD usage and showed (all?) sides of the camera and I did not readily see the slot.. the rear looks like it had two USB ports! So if in the camera, not too practical when housed outside :(
 
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Box Brownie said:
Thanks for the insights......I did find the website and had a quick look through the FAQs. It seems that for externally housed setup you cannot access the SD card (via the app) but just where is the SD card located? In the setup video the presenter did not discuss SD usage and showed (all?) sides of the camera and I did not readily see the slot.. the rear looks like it had two USB ports! So if in the camera, not too practical when housed outside :(
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The micro SD card slot is in the base. Not accessible over Wi-Fi, has to be removed, they say they are working on it (pre-COVID) (the Wyze cam does have access :().
Only 1 USB for power, the other is for maintenance access I think.
I can access the SD card on the external one but it’s in a very sheltered location and I’m only using part of the housing and non-standard mounting.
You can set an exclusion/inclusion zone on each camera but I don’t find it works well if the stimulus is strong -- my outdoor one can see the road through trees/bushes and a a large white van or very bright headlights (lot of ambulances go past) will set off recording. I have corresponded with them about this this but no solution so far.
One very good thing is that they are continuously recording so when they “see” movement/sound there is about 5 seconds of recording kept from before the “stimulus”.

You can set for sound or vision or both and turn on/off alerts.
Set IR ON or OFF or Auto.

You can set to only activate when you (your phone) leaves the house and share with other phones.

They have several YouTube vids, eg:
View: https://youtu.be/qZSO_DD_guc


To be clear, I’m not saying it’s a wildlife cam :). I got one originally to be able to see if my terrier was OK while I had various short unscheduled :( stays in hospital (she has food & water and access to the garden) until a relative could get there to take over. Worked very well, so I got another for outdoors — they work OK through window glass if you turn the IR off so good for lit areas at night.
 
I have just had an email from NEOS that they are launching new prices soon.
 
Thanks for the above Rich it might very well be of use to me as an alarm,I'm working the front not back it is small ( the back is huge,well very long). The porch we both mused in a vixen's eye, will help with weather proofing ie I have a perfect spot for your little neo cam .

I've not yet looked at your link or video properly . I've been researching lights. I popped a little table lamp outside made a wire frame stuck compo bag over it and gaffered that to wire frame, basically to rain proof. So I now have a light feet from the spot the foxes feed at. Job's a good 'un foxes are unphased So I now have proof that I can keep pushing and move forwards. i've also been able to make video with that simple horrible light,ok ISO 25600 is never going to produce anything stella. but I'm stunned at what my camera is capable of, and I have big ol orange eyes to stare at not white saucers. I am stunned though.

So i've moved forwards abit these last days, I also have lights in their way to me. I have half a hunch I might cobble up a fake front door,so I can shoot low and yet not present much of a difference to what my subjects know already. They are still incredibly jumpy all as it should be. I have this crazy dream I'm going to get some stills out of this,can't fault a guy for trying, I guess. Although in the back of my mind writing all this down does sound slightly mad.

Thanks for this little gem of a security cam, I need to sleep charlie is making things slightly tricky. Some form of alert system would be a huge asset, and I know I'd never have found something like you are using on my own

many thanks ;)

stu.
 
@Stuart Philpott . Another thing, a couple of years ago I bought a little battery PIR detector ”rings” (actually various sounds) on a plug in receiver in the house. Nothing to with wildlife but in fact it detects woodies (and possibly blackbirds) on my porch. (I also have an Amazon Ring Doorbell that detected a bumblebee on one occasion :)).

It is called a “Wireless Home Security Driveway Alarm” :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00WG2VVV2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

About £16 and works very well, I’ve had same set of rechargeable batteries in it for at least a year. It’s set to a fairly unobtrusive “popping” sound — otherwise it has noisy chimes like doorbells. I don’t know what the range might be but it would certainly work on your porch.
 
Hi Richard, thanks for the ideas, really useful I probably wouldn't ever think of things like this, myself .So I really appreciate the help you are an ingenious guy mate :D!!
 
Stuart Philpott said:
Hi Richard, thanks for the ideas, really useful I probably wouldn't ever think of things like this, myself .So I really appreciate the help you are an ingenious guy mate :D!!
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Oh, I‘ve been on a number of committees etc and they are usually described as “another of Richard’s daft ideas” (if they are being polite) :).
 
Lmao I can also do daft ideas.it just seems yours are less daft than mine:D............I mean you are talking to a guy comtemplating making a false front door making pics with continuous lighting not flash, and using wire compo bags and household lamps to prove out a concept...........the whole thing is daft Rich . Simply if we are both honest with ourselves daft isn't quite a strong enough word:LOL:

You're funny mate ,but I still appreciate the help(y)
 
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