Trail cameras provide extremely helpful services in nature conservation. For example, they enable low-disturbance monitoring of breeding birds and are therefore an indispensable tool for many researchers. Trail cameras can provide valuable information on the behavior and on population dynamics without interfering and disturbing the animal.
Our ZEISS Secacam 5 and 7 were deployed as part of an Osprey breeding bird monitoring project of Thornley Wildlife Trust where we were able to follow the Osprey’s chicks hatching and growing up but also watch the adults and monitor their behavior . Maybe you have been following their journey through our Instagram channel?
After another successful breeding season our Osprey chicks are about to set off on their epic migration of around 3,000 miles! Our new chicks unbelievably do this on their own with an inherited map of direction and distance – amazing!
The use of the ZEISS Trail cams has aided the conservation work and Mike from ‘Thornley Wildlife’ based in the North West has been delighted with their performance.
Catching up with Mike he told me “I’ve used many types of trail cams over the past 10 years and these are by far better than many other types. The quality of picture as expected from ZEISS has been excellent, most importantly they have been 100% reliable, they are also easy to set up, use and share picture with others.”
One of the nests followed has been in use nearly 20 years as seen in this blog it had two healthy chicks again this year. The camera has allowed us to see adult leg rings that provide us with useful information. The female is unringed but from the males ring we have found that he was born in Wales in 2015, he originally located in Denmark in 2018 and bred here for two years, he has then returned to the UK to our site in 2021 until now. The cameras also help us to monitor the fish species they eat and also observe how the chicks develop within their early life time.
We have been able to use more ZEISS Trail Cameras than ever on our nest sites this season and in the coming years they will continue to help our work in re-populating England with these magnificent birds.
The photos were taken with the correct licenses.
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