Videos of Muntjac Deer and a Hedgehog!
Posted: 23 May 2019
Today I retrieved the the first video captured by a new wildlife camera. there's been a long gap in the inclusion of video on the site. That's because the old camera became rather unreliable. It was always set to activate overnight only. However, it began to fire up at almost any time of day and often seemingly for no reason. So, in the end, I abandoned using it.
The new camera is capable of taking higher quality video and, supposedly, has better infra-red lighting. Here are the first results, taken over the last few nights from a position close to the northern end of the "Retaining Wall".
Perhaps the first thing I learn is that placement of the camera is key. Here there is too much foliage in the foreground and that appears to make the background darker than is ideal. The camera is set to run for a minute once it has detected movement.
This video was captured at 04:08 on Monday morning. Notice how, at around 40 seconds in, the animal seems alerted to some sound and then her ears are set to focus on the sound. She relaxes but then checks again before deciding the noise can be ignored.
This next video is just a 13 second segment taken from a video captured 21 minutes later. The segment was selected as it just shows the period the deer was in view, which I guess is the same one seen earlier.
As I start to watch, I notice a moving spot of light on the path in the background. On checking the previous video again I see a similar, but stationary, spot is visible for the first 5 seconds I wonder if it was that object that spooked the deer then and, perhaps, is the reason that the deer is looking in the direction of that spot of light as the video starts to run.
This next video was taken the same day, but instead of the very early morning, it was captured at 23:49 and I think we have the answer to the early morning puzzle. For sailing into view, at a speed that will be surprising for many, is a hedgehog.
Our last video in the sequence come from 02:42 on Wednesday morning. There are no spots of light, moving or stationery, but it does demonstrate that Muntjac are very regular visitors to our grounds. I've kept the full minute of the clip as while you may think that the action has finished earlier, you do get a further glimpse of the deer's eye in the final few seconds.
