With Autumn definitely taking hold, I am keen to get the Tawny stump completed and up as soon as possible. Last week my carpenter friend, Dave, came over for me to explain the ideas I had had. After making a start on the housing for the camera, Dave took it home to complete. He delivered his ‘masterpiece’ this week! Dave has created a pretty impressive housing that will be screwed onto the stump. This housing will hold the HD cam. It needed to be at a reasonable distance from the main owl area and adjustable if possible.
My aim is to view the stump and nesting area from the rear, with the entrance hole in view. I want to be able to see the owls arrive at the nesting stump, hopefully bringing in prey if they nest. In my mind, I envisage seeing adults bring prey into the young and feeding them. The downside about this angle is that if the female is incubating, she will probably face away from the camera. Hopefully, a camera mounted in the tree, facing inwards, will be able to remedy this with an alternative view.
Dave’s construction is amazing! Inside the beautifully finished box was a sliding rack, allowing me to move the camera backwards and forwards to position it at the distance I wanted. It is way better than I had ever imagined and I certainly would not have been able to construct anything like this!
I wired the camera up and was able to experiment with positioning. I can view the camera on the icatcher app on my phone and then check up in the office. After some fiddling, I was able to position the camera in the way I had imagined.
I added some weathered wood to the rear to create a natural looking hole and also added wood and branches to the front to create a natural looking entrance.
There will be a small light unit inside to illuminate the space. This light works from a sensor and will switch to IR at night to allow us to see night-time action. I use this system in our other YewView tawny box.
I treated the exterior of the box and then will finally fit all the camera permanently in place.
The next issue will be to somehow get the whole thing up the tree… we are going to contact some tree surgeons for this as it is a bit beyond me and a ladder!
A massive thank you to Dave and his fantastic carpentry skill! Let’s hope the tawny owls oblige in the new year!
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