Nightime wildlife filming
Off camera, we've caught glimpses of deer in the fields above, and occasionally in the garden,and although we've found droppings, we've never actually seen a hedgehog but then there's plenty of old log piles and long grasses to hide in. A very regular visitor is the heron (cindré) who stands for ages, silently and patiently, watching to catch his supper from the river. It's a real meditation to stand and watch him ...
Unfortunately each time we try to catch night time river life, the camera lense so the camera is back in its docking station, charging its batteries, ready for the next episode.
Our first wildlife encounter was the Edible Dormouse, known as the loir in France. You can read a previous blog (sept 2021) about the little chap we found in late summer last year - abandoned and very weak who was finally released in the Autumn with the help of round-the-clock feeds.
We dearly wanted to know what he was up to .. would he survive, hibernate, meet a mate? One way we might know was to buy a night vision camera.
Biodiversity is alive and kicking at La Cueille …
We didn't get to see the edible dormouse again but we've been impressed with the variety of other animals that have made their home in the grounds of Moulin de la Cueille.
So the camera is back charging its batteries ready for the next round of filming – and we’ll put a rule in the area to get some idea of size which will help with future identifications.
So until next time xx
Check out the video below which combines snippets of many hours of night-time filming. Underneath are a few details of the animals shown on the film.
The pine marten starts us off, but he's camera shy, so we don't get a good look. Equally shy is the genet, a carnivore that we'd never even heard of, with its stripey tail and spotty body. The genet is strictly nocturnal and sleeps in trees and hollows during the day, a bit like an owl. They feed on mice and other small mammals, so it's no wonder we don't seem to have a big mouse or rat problem.
Other more common animals seen on the videos are hares, badgers and foxes, all of whom look very healthy, so they must have all they need in the area.
Off camera, we've caught glimpses of deer in the fields above, and occasionally in the garden,and although we've found droppings, we've never actually seen a hedgehog but then there's plenty of old log piles and long grasses to hide in. A very regular visitor is the heron (cindré) who stands for ages, silently and patiently, watching to catch his supper from the river. It's a real meditation to stand and watch him ...
Unfortunately each time we try to catch night time river life, the camera lense mists over, so we abandoned that episode, and it's now fully charged and sat opposite the barn owl's nesting box. We've just started to hear their screeches, so it should be another interesting film ;-)
