Winterwatch cameras for wildlife: the best home wildlife cameras to photograph birds and garden animals
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Bird spotting and wildlife watching can be a rewarding, relaxing pastime. A decent pair of binoculars is often all you need, but sometimes you might want to get up close and personal to your subject matter for a closer look, or capture the movements of an elusive, wary creature.
A wildlife camera can often offer easy covert monitoring of places otherwise unseen, direct to your TV Monitor or smart device.
Wildlife ‘trail’ cameras are devices that are triggered by movement and can store digitally captured images and videos on a transferable SD card or similar removable storage device.
Perfect then for studying shy night time visitors to your garden, or to find out what exactly keeps turning over your bins.
We’ve been spying on unsuspecting wildlife through an array of choice devices. Here’s seven of the best...
The RSPB clearly knows a thing or two about birds and their nesting habits so as you might expect, this statuesque bird box with an integrated 700TVL Sony camera is designed to bring them flocking.
It’s a grandiose looking abode, made from chunky FSC timber and comes with a 32mm entrance hole (with an optional 25mm supplied to attract some of the smaller species) plus the option to remove the front panel to convert it to an open box for robins or wrens.
Setup is easy – just position your box (at least 2m high, on a tree or wall) then connect the box camera to your tv via the 30m cable.
The dinky camera is installed in the ‘attic’ for a birds eye view of the nesting area and delivers crisp daytime images or black and white infrared shots when the light is low.
There’s also a super-sensitive microphone built in, so you can also eavesdrop on their chirpings. It’s worth noting that this box connects to your set via yellow and white AV plugs.
A Scart Adapter is included but it’s worth checking on your TVs compatibility before purchase.
Although primarily designed for home security (i.e. a device enabling you watch helplessly from afar as someone burgles your shed), the Yale all-in-one camera also makes a surprisingly good wildlife camera.
Featuring a 1080P camera which offers a wide 110-degree viewing angle, you can stream live footage via a smartphone or tablet device or watch motion censored video sequences which notify the user via a downloadable Yale View app.
The 10m infrared range for capturing night time animal action is slightly limiting, but position this camera on an external wall near a bird feeder or nest box and you’ve got yourself a great, low cost, device for nature spotting.
You can also use this camera as a room monitor to spy on domestic pets whilst out.
The camera also has a two way talk function, a 160 Lumen spotlight and a 110db siren alarm, all of which may come in useful if Rover or Tiddles start tearing up the sofa in your absence.
If you are fortunate enough to have hedgehogs visit your garden, providing a box for them to hunker down and hibernate will hopefully encourage them to stick around for a good few seasons.
Better still, if you install one with a built-in camera you can spy on your prickly tennants, Big Brother style and learn about their wily ways.
This sturdy, hand-made hog house is built from weather treated plywood and comes packing a high definition 1920 x 1080p camera which monitors both the entrance and the separate living space and sends pictures directly to your smartphone or tablet device via a downloadable app.
Although the camera broadcasts in colour, it will only broadcast colour images if there is enough light streaming in through the entrance tunnel.