A Night in the Forest.......One fallen tree trunk and the Wildlife that travel along it!

The Common Genet (which is far from common) is the only Genet present in Europe and occurs in the Iberian Peninsula, Italy and France.

Just over a year ago, I was invited by a friend to set up my 'DSLR Camera Trap' and record the nocturnal wildlife that was living in his forest. He had been using 'trail cams' to record video footage, but whilst the image quality was ok, what we both wanted, was to record higher quality, colour images of his night time visitors. 

Approaching septuagenarian years, I had lost my enthusiasm for camping out at 'silly' o'clock, in all weathers, so had built my first camera trap a few years ago. It allows me to set up my DSLR cameras and flashes in waterproof housings, which are triggered by 'Camtraptions' trigger systems. These remotely fire the camera and flashes, when my 'target' appears. It is not just the discomfort of spending nights in the forest that forced me down this route, but also the fact that our wildlife is vastly more aware of our presence than we are of theirs. In addition, there is the practicality of trying to see creatures in the pitch black......I have spent many hours listening to nearby noises, without a clue of what was in front of me!

'Trail cam' footage had confirmed that Foxes, Pine Marten and even the rare and very elusive Genet were in the vicinity, so our main target was to capure images of a Genet if possible. We had identified a number of routes that seemed to be used, but many of them were impractical for setting up the gear, either because of difficult terrain, or too many potential focus points (when setting up a DSLR camera trap, it is necessary to pre-focus the camera on one specific point, where you hope the creature may pass). What we needed was one position, where our 'target', had no option, other than to walk past our 'focus point'. Having researched and found our position, it was now 'simply' a case of setting up the camera, flashes and triggers and.......waiting!

Here, you can see the section of the tree, that was our 'target area' and the system used to capture all of the following images.
It is important that the equipment is protected from potential damage from the elements, as it is left in the open for weeks at a time!

As a 'rule of thumb', camera and flash settings for this type of system are:

• Camera set to manual
• Focus - Manual
• Shutter speed  -  1/160 to 1/200
• f-stop  -  f8, or f9
• ISO  -  400

• Flash set to manual and 'standby'. - Wireless trigger - 25mm - ISO-400 - I use Nikon SB-28 flashes and find that they can be left 'in situ' for up to 3 weeks at a time, on a fully charged set of batteries.

I have found that by positioning the camera around 2-3 meters from the subject and having the flashes remotely positioned 'left' and 'right' at around 45 degrees, gives a good spread of light and exposure.

Of course, the field of view is limited by the focal length of the lens and we started by using my 18-55 kit lens, set at 18mm. This gave us a reasonably 'wide angle' lens and the chance of getting an image, if the creature did not pass the focus point too quickly......needless to say, our initial efforts included a high number of shots of animals where either the head, or tail had not appeared in frame. In fact, this can still happen, but over the past twelve months, I have utilised a 11-20 wider angle lens (usually at the wider end) and fine tuned the trigger systems sensitivity, to the best point I can find.

The reality of the situation, is that the camera system can only be left out for so long, before the batteries that power any of the components are drained of power. In this system, that  included the camera, 2 or sometimes 3 flashes, the main 'subject' trigger, the shutter trigger and the flash triggers......that is a LOT of batteries!  -  With careful management, I found that I could leave the system for up to 3 weeks at a time, between changing batteries and memory cards. The trepidation of checking the camera to see if anything had been captured, was palpable on every occasion and I would be like a 'kid at christmas', waiting to see what gifts I had received!

We knew that the forest had its inhabitants, but what has surprised us the most, is the amount and variety of wildlife that passes this very small and specific point (this is just one, 2 meter section of one fallen tree, in the middle of a forest full of trees!). In particular, the different levels of the food chain, that walk in each others foot-steps.......hopefully, without meeting!

So, just one year on from the start of this project, we now have a reasonable idea of what is calling this forest home and the balance of the eco-system within it. The following images, start from the lowest end of the food chain (excluding insects and small birds) and work upwards......

The Wood Mouse is found in abundance and is preyed upon by many of its neighbours.

Brown Rat is a formidable foe, but makes a good meal for the larger mammals. This is the most recent animal seen and photographed just last week for the first time

The Squirrel (complete with a Walnut) is not a predator, but certainly predated upon!

These Tawny Owls had nested nearby and were making the most of the Wood Mice that were using the thoroughfare.

This Common Buzzard was a real surprise, bearing in mind the density of the tree canopy!

Pine Martens are regular travellers along this route.

The extremely elusive Genet, which was our number one target......the images with prey, are beyond our wildest dreams!

The Fox, is the largest inhabitant that we have photographed so far on this fallen tree trunk.

Although these images were taken over a 12 month period (the Brown Rat, being the most recent), I have many hundreds of images during that time and have found that on many occasions, a combination of these creatures have passed this exact spot within just minutes of each other. - As can be seen above, a Wood Mouse was unfortunate to meet up with a Genet at exactly the wrong time!

This particular project, was to specifically photograph just the nocturnal life on this particular fallen tree. - In the same area, I have also photographed Deer, Badgers and Wild Boar on the forest floor.

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