Loan a trail camera

Trail cameras provide a look into the secretive wildlife that calls the Fellfoot Forward area home, and now Fellfoot Forward residents can borrow cameras to see for themselves. Our Citizen Science project has four top of the range trail cameras ready for people within the scheme area to borrow.

A trail camera is a sensor activated camera that can be used to take images and videos of passing wildlife. The benefit of using a trail camera is that it causes almost no disturbance to the animals, and they are often unaware that they are even being photographed. This is especially useful for nocturnal wildlife that we don’t often get to see, such as foxes, badgers and hedgehogs. Trail cameras are attached to structures like trees or fence posts and are triggered with motion detection and infra-red sensors when an animal passes in front of it.

The trail cameras will be available to any resident, school or group who wants to use them within the Fellfoot Forward scheme area. The borrower will be provided with everything they need to get set up and  recording. Cameras can be placed in school playgrounds, community green spaces, and private gardens as long as there is landowner permission. If you would like to get involved but don’t know where you would be able to place a camera, please get in touch and we can put you in contact with a local landowner who would be happy to host a camera.

So whether you are a community group wanting to get involved for your local area, or a parent looking for an interesting summer holiday project for your family, please get in touch to find out more. To arrange a trail camera loan, email Sam Tranter.

Brampton Primary school recently borrowed a trail camera and pupils and teachers enjoyed seeing what wildlife ventured onto the playing field at night.

Naturalist and Fellfoot Forward volunteer, Guy Broome, has been using trail cameras to record wildlife in his local area for some years and has picked up incredible images of deer, otters, birds of prey and more. A video of Guy’s best trail camera captures and a background to the project can be seen here.

As well as getting people more connected to the wildlife they cannot see, an aim of this project is to increase the number of biological records submitted for the area. A biological record is simply a record of the species you have seen, along with the time and place you have seen it. Biological records build up great datasets that can be used for scientific research and formulate a picture of how species are doing across the UK. Any records you wish to make can be submitted using iRecord.