On the trail-cam

I have been playing with trail and other remote cameras including a few security cameras. Cctv systems are notoriously pricey and often unaffordable and some of the cheaper systems are very unreliable suffering the problem of long delays befor activating the camera.

There is also an impressive range of fake cctv cameras in the shape of domes and bullet cameras which are considerably cheaper, but often don't look the part at all. Better than these are a slightly more expensive range of fake cameras complete with the low glow of fake infrared arrays, randomly flashing communications LEDs and cabling. They are effective decoys especially where what is needed is a deterent.

Trail cams are a different technology entirely the lowest cost of these self contained motion sensing automatic cameras able to operate in daylight and total darkness (zero lux) is around £80-100. Some are fitted with a flash, others with infrared illuninators. Some models save to a removable SD card, others are 3g enabled fitted with a SIM card and able to email or sms the image to your specified address. 3g enabled trail cameras too are not cheap costs can exceed £200-300. Trail cams do however produce some very good and unexpected results.

Remote photography, especially when what you are trying to photograph is illusive is still reliant on good tracking, observation and understanding the habit patterns of the animal you want to photograph and even then the results can be surprising.

Wild Woods walk, nearly bluebell season!

Wild woods in the Chilterns. Nearly Bluebell season!

Raptor Watching on Christmas Common

Contrary to rumour the Raptor Watch on Christmas Common on the 13th April 2013 will still be taking place at the pre arranged gps location which went out on email.

I will be in a hide and on the ridge overnight and the hides will be set up with meat baited out for the cameras.

See you there!

Attention Oxford Mycophiles

8th April 2013 The fascinating world of fungi, a talk by Judy Webb

The talk will be preceded by the New Marston Wildlife Group AGM 730-9pm.
at Scout Hut, Marston Rd William Street OX3 0EN

Entry is free, but donations are welcome.

Using a Sylva magnifying glass to make fire

Someone once told me that the magnifying glass on a Sylva compass was no good for survival purposes, in other words they are of no use for starting fires. I know it doesn't take much of a lense to concentrate the suns rays. The bottom of a Coka Cola bottle will suffice and in the past anecdotal evidence suggests that bottles have started forest fires. 

Basic lenses capable of starting fires can be made with ice and I have experimented with making these during some of the very cold spells we have had. I have experimented with a variety of lenses to make fire including binoculars, camera lenses, reading glasses, Coke Bottles and folding specimen magnifiers, all with great success. I had never really experimented with compass magnifiers.

Using magnifiers to start fires also depends on using the right materials and techniques. As a rule of thumb I have found the most reliable method of fire lighting has always been the generating of an ember which is then blown into flames in a graded tinder bundle and as always the secret to a successful fire is preparation, making sure you have the hearth safely cleared and prepared, graded fuel to establish your fire and fuel enough for the duration of your camp.

The intensity of sunlight seems to make little difference throughout most of the year in the South of England, of course the further north you go the more critical this can be.

I decided that the best way to see if a Sylva compass magnifier was of any survival use was to try it out. There seems to be an on going debate among some of my colleagues about which materials are best lit from a magnifier, so ignoring my general rule of thumb of generating embers for use in a tinder bundle I followed the trend of the conversation which seemed to suggest that dried grass was the best medium for lighting fires from a magnifier.

These films were made by me in May 2012 in a field near Wallingford, Oxon.

Dry grass as you can see is irrelevant

 

False Tinder Fungus, Fomes fomentarius

 

Chaga, Inonotus obliquus

 

and King Alfreds Cakes, Daldinia concentrica

All make a satisfactory and usable coal. 

For this demonstration I used very small pieces of the fungus. 

It is possible to use dried grass with a magnifier but it needs to be bundled tightly so that when it ignites it forms a coal which can then be added to a tinder bundle.

Related posts on this blog

fire-from-sparks-and-natural-tinder
  
Fire Kit

Fire

 
 

Flood defenses in a changing world

I installed this flood defense with Matt Morton about 5 years ago. What is impressive is that it has survived repeated flooding and the scour caused by the fast flowing water. In a changing and unpredictable world rivetments like this may in some cases be the only way in which to protect homes from flooding.

Living the earthloving Bushcraft life

Blessed are they who live and make their livelyhood without harming others.
Buddha

The only skill in this is consciousness, understanding and the practical skills of everyday living all tied together with the glue of empathy. Without empathy it is just words, and the skills mean nothing.

If the skillfully led life requires the injury (physical and/or psychological) of another being for a livelihood or the betterment of ones circumstances, then it annot be described as spiritual let alone be attributed to Buddhism or any other faith that I know of.

Bishcrafting is about being mindful of naure and all that is in it and learning and advancing skills so we can again be at one with nature.