Baby Noctule update

The juvenile noctule continues to come on in leaps and bounds.

He is now eating mealworms and soon we shall have to get him some flight cage practice.

Infra-Red Camera Set- up

Following a workshop at the National Bat Conference on Infra-Red (IR) filming of bats, I decided to set-up my own system. A quick trip to ebay and a little research later I came up with the below.

Most of the set-ups I have seen to date have relied on external battery packs and lots of connecting leads. Although the footage was excellent and the systems seemed fairly simple to set – up, I was looking for something that would be self-contained.

I found IR lights called ‘bullets’ on an ebay shop, produced by SpectIR components, these seemed ideal as they take batteries. The added bonus was that they were cheap, being £30 for both lights. Each light takes four ‘AA’ batteries to the rear. These are expected to last at least 2- 3hrs of continuous use. The two lights can light an area of approx. 15- 20m. This is generally good enough for most roosts that I have tested the system on.

Equipment –

1.    Sony Handycam DCR-SR35 HDD ‘Nightshot’ (already owned and more importantly has the night shot facility).

2.    Camera Tripod (I opted for a small tripod that could be used internally in barns and small loft spaces).

3.    2 x Infra-Red (IR) lights, Bullets (produced by SpectIR Components).

Figure 1: IR set-up

Figure 2: IR set-up

Figure 3: IR set-up

Now I have had a chance to test the system and the results can be seen here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89343861/BLEB%20Stockgrove%20no%20sound.wmv

This piece of footage was taken from a known roost in Bedfordshire.