Camera Trapping Again

I've set up the camera trap in the garden. So far, aside from cats, we have this fox. I'll upload more when I see more. 

My Ultimate Capture

I have had this video in my collection since September but being at Ulovane I never got around to actually using it on a post which is strange as it shows the animal which I most want to see in the wild. When I was checking through the videos with my family after collecting it in Blue Hills I nearly dropped my drink. I was extremely excited and had to put my drink down before watching it again. 

It is a shot of that elusive creature, the honey badger. And not just one but two!

After watching it is obvious that the second one is a youngster and it is following its mother. You can see the youngster check the camera out before realising its mother has just carried and runs off in pursuit. Young honey badgers may stay with the parents for over 2 years and since this guy is pretty big he cannot be far off leaving. 

During my whole time out there I never once saw the honey badger. I captured this video, seen damage they had done to a bee hive a few days before and on a morning walk during tracker duties at Shamwari there where fresh honey badger prints on the road out of camp. I have come so close so many times but I will not give up my search. I will return to find the honey badger.

An Ant-Bear

So a few weeks ago I captured footage of a cape mountain leopard. On the camera there was also another interesting individual, the aardvark or ant-bear. This gut was in the same location as the leopard, just a week later. The area seems to be a busy place so I have returned my camera there to try and capture my number 1 animal, the ratel or honey badger. 

The aardvark wondered around in the distance in this first video probably looking for its favourite food, termites. The aardvark tears a termite mound apart with its sharp claws and then has easy access to the little guys inside. 

The next video shows the strange animal much closer. If you refer back to my post on the leopard (link) you can compare the sizes of the two animals as they both stand in the same location. 

The termite mounds all around the area are filled with large holes created by these guys but smaller holes just a few mm wide are scattered all over the mounds. These give the mounds a pitted appearance and are made by another creature not termites or aardvark. These are made by the ground woodpecker. They use their bills to poke about inside the mound and pick out some juicy termites.

Ground Woodpecker

Def(initely) Leopard

So in my last post was a film about setting up a camera trap and included some footage of a leopard. The leopard stayed around for three films. I think it is a male from the shape of the head and the muscular form. It is most likely one of the resident males, Big Boy. The other male, Butch, has a radio collar on his neck so it is definitely not him.  The video I like most is when he sniffs the camera trying to work out what it is.

The other he walks past still checking out the camera.

In the third he is a bit more difficult to spot as he lies in the grass after scent marking. You can see his eye shine towards the end.

It is great to know that the leopards are still holding on in the mountains of the western cape even if it is just a small number. Figures suggest there could be fewer than 20 left in the Baviaanskloof Mega reserve which borders Blue Hill Escape where this footage was captured. Lets hope they hang on and increase in numbers.

How to Set up a Camera Trap.

Over the last few days I have put together a short film on how I set up my camera trap. The video includes a few hints on sighting the camera as well as the settings which I most often use. All the footage was captured at Blue Hill Escape. There is some new footage from the camera trap in the film, a few very special species. A quick hint as to what it is, it is a predator. Watch the video to see what it could be. I enjoyed making the introduction which I am quite proud of. I hope you enjoy the short film.

More footage of the secret species in my next post (although if you watched the video it wont be secret anymore).

Baboons!

Here in the mountains at Blue Hill there are plenty of baboon although they are very wary of humans due to being shot by farmers. They are very unlike the Cape Point baboons.

Using my camera-trap set right in the hills miles from the house and managed to capture some natural baboon behaviour (although I was hoping for a leopard).

Below are two videos from the camera trap followed by a few photos.

The baboons run at the first sight of people.

 Here they are keeping an eye on me.

And this guy didnt make it, maybe prey to a leopard?

Kudu and Buck

Here are two camera trap images collected from near to the main house at Blue Hill escape. The camera was only out two nights and captured these videos and more not uploaded. the first is a shivering grysbok or duiker, not sure which. The second is an inquisitive kudu looking at the camera. I have baboons to also show you but not sure when.

Arrived in South Africa

Well here I am in South Africa staying at the Blue Hill Escape. I have had my camera up already and seen plenty of signs of the cape mountain leopard, spoor and scat. 

The baboons are quite a frequent sight but much more nervous than the peninsular ones. Probably due to the fact they have been hunted here and shot as vermin. I am on the bird survey at the moment having set off today with bavianskloof nature area next up. 

Birdlife is everywhere with sunbirds singing meters from where I stand. Redwing starlings, my favourite bird, nests in the roof above my room.

The location is so remote at night it is absolutely deafening with the quietness. This also has the effect that the sky at night is unbelievable which this time-lapse I created shows.

 

Images unfortunately will be in a future post as I have limited internet and they are all in RAW format at around 30mb each.

My camera trap has captured some nice baboon behaviour as well as some species of buck and kudu. These will be up soon.

Finally an image not in RAW for you to show the starts. 

Milky way showing the southern cross and pointers in the top right.  (30 second shutter, 3200 iso.)

The Plan

On 25th June 2012 I leave the UK and head off for 6 months in South Africa. The purpose of the trip is to accompany Alan Lee from Blue Hills in the Bavianskloof on his research project (link). This will be for 3 months after which my family are coming over for a fortnight who I will meet up with. I will spend 2 weeks with them around Langebaan on the West Coast. My next stop is to train as a field guide with Ulovane training (link) on Amakhala (link). This will help me for my future in which I will become a field guide in South Africa.

Followers of my other blog from my time in the UK (link) will be familiar with the type of content I post. For newcomers take a look at the other blog but here is a quick round up. Expect camera trapping, photography, videos, a few rants, and any other nature or photography based content.

Being in South Africa and travelling around a bit things here should be more exciting. Stay tuned for more content soon.

Naturally I don't know how often I will be able to update here but I will do my best.