Security camras as trail cameras

[Tringa]

A few thoughts about security cameras as trail cameras.

Before reading any further to use the security setup below as a trail camera you need an internet connection that extends into your garden.


We have used trail cameras, in different gardens, and recorded cats, mice, voles, hedgehogs, foxes, pine martens, badgers and roe deer.
Recently we have installed a security camera and found in addition to its normal use it is good as a trail camera.

We have this from Ring - https://en-uk.ring.com/products/stick-up-security-camera-solar


After setting it up as a security camera it is easy to unclip it from the mount on a wall and use it to record animals visiting near the house.


The solar panel charges the internal battery. When the camera is detached from the solar panel the battery lasts for days. The battery in ours was at 100% when we removed it from the panel and, 4 days later, it is at 92%.

From the app it can be turned on and off so the camera won't record loads of things you don't want to see. When turned on, the app will alert you when something triggers the camera.


This is a video from a few nights ago.

BadgerSep2022 by Dave Marley, on Flickr

Dave

 

[Dale.]

Cool, much the same here too.

I've used Blink cameras now for almost 3 years, a very similar sytem to the Ring. I credit ours with the very first noticication of a fox, who still visits all this time later (more than 2 years) and he pings our camera almost every night.

As well as the fox, we get cats (including a mystery, big black one), hedgehogs, as well as various birds early in the mornings, picking up the fox scraps.

The POV on ours is very high, which is where trail cameras excel IMO, as they can be down low. You have that covered though.

Our cameras are yet to get a burglar, thankfully.